According to French Ambassador to Vietnam Olivier Brochet, the French Embassy in Vietnam has cooperated with VSS in the fields of health care and pharmacy since 2018.
In 2019, the French Pharmaceutical Companies Association (Leem) signed an agreement with VSS in the pharmaceutical area, he noted, affirming that the newly-signed MoU is the continuance of the sound cooperation between the two sides.
VSS Deputy General Director Nguyen Duc Hoa said that currently, about 18.26 million people have joined social insurance, accounting for 39.25% of the country’s workforce, along with about 14.7 million people joining unemployment insurance and over 93.3 million people covered by health insurance, or 93.35% of the country’s population.
However, Hoa pointed out a number of difficulties that VSS is facing in ensuring that people covered by health insurance access medicine, medical equipment and services with high quality, as well as challenges in managing spending of the health insurance fund on drugs, medical supplies, and medical technical services.
He underlined that the MoU is not only a commitment to public health but a shared effort of the two sides in providing high-quality medical services for people of the two countries, contributing to promoting Vietnam-France relations.
Under the MoU, the two sides will share information and experience on measures to increase income sources for the health insurance fund and the implementation of supplementary health insurance packages, while supporting each other in enhancing capacity in medical technology assessment serving the building of a list of drugs, medical supplies, and technical services covered by the health insurance fund.
Meanwhile, the two sides will also work together in communications to raise awareness of the community and medical staff about safe, reasonable and effective use of drugs, ensuring the effective use of the health insurance fund and patients' rights, and optimising resources for the improvement of healthcare services.
