According to a market survey conducted by the Vietnam General Association of Medicine and Pharmacy in June, the average price increase on domestic drugs was higher than on their foreign counterparts.

Domestic drugs costlier than foreign drugs

As per the survey, the price on domestic drugs had increased by 5 to 10 percent, much higher than that on foreign drugs.

For instance, among 4,664 varieties of local drugs, 28 saw a surge of   9.37 percent in price while 32 foreign drugs leaped only by 6.4 percent.

More noticeable were six domestic drugs that reduced by 3.11 percent while 15 imported counterparts went down by 7.3 percent.

The association forecasts an increase in price on both domestic and foreign medicines in July due to rise in raw material for production and other manufacturing costs.

Concerning the abuse of drugs issued to health insurance holders, the Vietnam Insurance Company has just sent an official document to its local sub-divisions asking to strictly monitor payment of these drugs, namely, Glutathion for injection and for oral use; Glucosamin for oral use; and Arginin for oral and Onithin-L-arpartat for injecting.

As many local medical centers have misused these drugs in prescription for patients with insurance cards, the central insurance company will only pay when these drugs are prescribed for patients’ ailment.