After the holiday, Cho Ray Hospital will have medicine for kidney transplant patients

On the afternoon of April 28, Doctor Pham Thanh Viet, Head of General Planning Department, Cho Ray Hospital said that the shortage of some transplant rejection drugs under the health insurance group (HI) has only occurred recently.

These are drugs belonging to the national price negotiation group, only after the price negotiation is completed, the hospital can bid for procurement.

“The National Shopping Center reported that the price cannot be negotiated, if it is urgent, the Cho Ray Hospital will conduct the bidding. Therefore, we are doing direct procurement in excess of 20% of the bid volume with 1 drug in the group in short supply. Expected to be able to buy it over the holidays, in a few days. We are completing documents and procedures. The remaining drugs will be auctioned according to regulations, and it will be possible to meet them within half a month as soon as possible. Vietnamese doctor said.

Previously, some kidney transplant patients being treated at Cho Ray Hospital said that they had to buy some anti-rejection drugs by themselves because the hospital announced that they were out of drugs.

Specifically, these are anti-rejection drugs that health insurance covers such as Advagraf 5mg, 1mg, 0.5mg; Prograf 1mg; Cellcept 500mg, 250mg.

Currently, the prices of these drugs in the market are very high, which is a challenge for poor patients. For people who receive an organ transplant in general, after a successful transplant, they will have to take anti-rejection (immunosuppressive) drugs for life. The drug prevents the body from rejecting the transplanted organ.

Recorded on some western drug websites, Advagraf 5mg box of 5 blisters x 10 tablets is priced at 241,500 VND/tablet, 12.075,000 VND/box of 50 tablets; Advagraf 1mg drug costs more than 2,700,000 VND/box of 50 tablets; Cellcept 500mg drug costs from 1,200,000 VND to 1,600,000 VND/box of 50 tablets; Prograf 1mg drug costs 1,250,000 VND / box of 50 tablets.

Faced with the above situation, this morning, the Board of Directors of Cho Ray Hospital had a meeting with Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance to find a solution. In addition to quickly purchasing a part of medicine directly, patients will also be transferred to other facilities that have drugs such as People’s Hospital 115, University Hospital of Medicine and Pharmacy of Ho Chi Minh City. It is known that the shortage of transplant rejection drugs covered by health insurance is currently happening only at Cho Ray Hospital.

Over the past 30 years, Cho Ray Hospital has successfully performed kidney transplants for more than 1,000 patients, making it one of the three largest kidney transplant facilities in the country.