Vietnam should establish a national council to manage medicine prices, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung suggested at a cabinet meeting earlier this week.

The premier said at a meeting of his cabinet on Friday that it is important the government oversee the prices of pharmaceutical products.

PM Dung emphasized that it should be an effective management body with the participation of all relevant ministries.

The meeting focused on issues related to medicine price management as it is considered a key point of the revised Law on Pharmaceuticals.

The supervision over medicine pricing remains a complicated problem because there has yet to be a unit in the Ministry of Health responsible for the work, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien admitted. Minister Tien suggested controlling medicine prices should be assigned to the Ministry of Finance.

Meanwhile Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said an inter-sector mechanism operated by a management council under the Ministry of Health would be essential to protect patients’ interests.

Two other Deputy Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Vu Van Ninh, agreed with Deputy Prime Minister Dam, saying that the health ministry should be tasked with directing a national council to manage medicine prices.

Prime Minister wrapped up the meeting by advising that the revised Law on Pharmaceuticals should set forth issues of principle so that the government can correspondingly provide specific regulations.  

The cabinet members also voiced their opinions on the Bill on Management and Use of State Capital Invested in Production and Business, and the proposed amendments to the Law on Investment and the Law on Enterprises.