Strictly punish violated private clinics and pharmacies

​The members of the supervision team of the Provincial People's Council and the Department of Health have practical monitoring at a private clinic in Bien Hoa city

Found violation in anywhere checked

A common fact today is that when the working delegation of the authorities goes to appraise to issue the operation license, the medical examination and treatment facilities, pharmacies can present all the documents and papers as regulated and suitable equipment. However, when the functional forces appear for unexpected inspection or unexpected monitoring, many establishments get confused and they cannot produce all relevant documents, and do not operate properly according to the registered expertise .

According to statistics from the Department of Health, in 2019 and the first 6 months of 2020, the functional forces of the Department of Health organized planned and irregular inspections at 165 medical and pharmaceutical practice establishments in the provincial area. Thereby detecting that 56 establishments have violated, issued decisions to sanction administrative violations for 44 establishments with the amount of more than 1.2 billion VND. In addition, the authorities have confiscated the medical practice certificate of 2 cases, suspended the operation of 8 medical practice establishments, confiscated the medical practice certificates of 2 pharmacy practice establishments, confiscated the operation licenses for a period of time of 2 medical practice establishments and 8 pharmacy practice establishments.

The main mistakes of establishments operating in the field of medical examination and treatment are: operating without a license, employing a practitioner without a practice certificate, practicing beyond the professional ability or the facility operates in contravention of the contents of the operation license, records of medical records, prescribes a drug without a patient, has no signs, price list, or fails to maintain the conditions of facilities and equipment to ensure the same operation as in the assessment of licensing, not to send patients to emergency facilities when beyond professional capacity. For drug-trading establishments, the main fault is the establishment that fails to satisfy the drug storage conditions, the participants in the sale of drugs do not have a professional degree as prescribed, the establishment operates without the certificate of sufficient conditions for drug trading, not opening books, having no price list, selling non-commercial drugs, preserving drugs with poor quality, retail expired drugs, trading drugs with no intact packages, mask business of unknown origin.

In addition to the functional forces of the Department of Health, the functional forces of the districts and cities have also examined private medical and pharmaceutical establishments in the management area and also discovered many shortcomings of the basis. In 2019, Thong Nhat's interdisciplinary inspection team checked and handled 7 violating establishments with the amount of 14.6 million VND; In the 6 months of 2020, a fine of 15 million VND will be imposed on a drug counter for drug trading due to lack of intact packaging as prescribed. Xuan Loc Health Department coordinates with the Inspector of the Department of Health to check 1 clinic, 1 dental clinic in the area according to people's reflection. As a result, both establishments violated and were fined a total amount of 58 million VND…

Strict punishment

According to regulations, the Department of Health is the agency that licenses medical examination and treatment activities for general clinics and specialized clinics; to grant certificates of satisfaction of drug trading conditions to drug retailers. The assessment of licensing conditions is carried out by an Assessment Team established under the Decision of the Director of the Department of Health. Members of the appraisal team are representatives from the local Health Departments, the Provincial Testing Center.

Director of the Department of Health, Mr. Phan Huy Anh Vu admitted that the management of private clinics and pharmacies in the province recently has many shortcomings, not achieving the desired results. The area is wide, the number of medical and pharmaceutical practice establishments is large but the human resources in charge of the operation management of general clinics, specialized clinics, and drug retail establishments are thin, so the number of establishments is inspection is very limited. On the other hand, specialized clinics mainly operate outside office hours, while civil servants of the Department of Health and Health Department work according to office hours, making it difficult to inspect and check. The polyclinics are all enterprises, according to the regulations, every year, the authorities only check the enterprise once and must notify in advance, so it is difficult to detect violations when checking.

In order to better manage the operation of private clinics, pharmacies and drugstores in the province, in the coming time, the Department of Health will further step up the decentralization of management, assign the People's Committees of districts and cities. City, which is directly the Health Department of districts and cities, is responsible for managing, directing and providing professional guidance, inspecting, examining, and sanctioning violations for ensuring operating conditions. as when licensing according to regulations for general clinics, specialized clinics, drug retail establishments in the area.

“The health sector is determined to rectify and thoroughly handle private medical establishments that do illegal business, affecting people's health. At the same time, will tighten the operation management of general clinics, specialized clinics, pharmacies and private pharmacies with legal business but with mistakes and shortcomings in order to put these establishments into order.”, Director of the Department of Health, Mr. Phan Huy Anh Vu confirmed.

Bao Ngoc