Vietnam PM Urges Agencies to Cope with Lacks of Medicine, Medical Equipment

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged agencies to cope with the lacks of medicines and medical equipment across the country at a meeting on June 23.

After listening to representatives of ministries, PM Chinh pointed out that the main reason is that localities and ministries did not work closely and officials are afraid of being responsible for mistakes in purchases.

Reaffirming the goal of prioritizing the protection of people’s health, PM Chinh asked the health ministry to collaborate with relevant agencies to remove obstacles in regulations related to the purchases of drugs and medical equipment.

He also ordered agencies to ameliorate legal frameworks to boost the public-private partnership (PPP) in the health sector, continue building autonomy mechanisms at public health facilities, re-assess the manpower imbalance among localities, and build health facilities in line with the reality.

He added that agencies must keep anti-COVID-19 measures and study the coronavirus vaccination for children aged under five. (Zing News, Vietnam Plus English, Tien Phong, Vietnam Plus)