The Vietnamese Ministry of Health said that it will inspect management of medicine prices in central hospitals and a number of district-level ones at end-June. The move followed local people’s complaint about uncontrolled medicine price hikes in many hospitals, the Voice of Vietnam Radio said, citing the ministry. A survey conducted by the ministry’s Drug Administration in the first quarter showed that prices of 14 out of 700 domestically-made medicine products rose 5.14% on average, while the price increase of 124 among 2,400 imported medicines were estimated at 5.51% in the three-month period. The administration is mulling over revoking a license of South Korean Dasan Medichem Co., Ltd due to violations for medicine prices. Vietnam imported $320.19 million worth of pharmaceutical products from between January and mid-April, the General Department of Customs said.
