Vietnam: Industry Losses, Import Quality Problems

Vietnam's drug industry is running at a loss due to a massive inflow ofimports, which now take 80% of the market, reports Vietnam News. Drugs from Russia, the USA, Belgium, France, Japan, Korea and India now dominate sales at pharmacies in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam.

Le Minh Diem, director of Vietnam's Central Pharmaceutical Enterprise No 26, says over 90% of drugs used by hospitals are imports. Locally-made medicines are most frequently used by poorer patients and those with health insurance problems. This domination by foreign drugs is partly due to the large discounts offered by foreign manufacturers, but some hospitals reportedly buy imports that are sometimes more expensive and less effective than their Vietnamese counterparts.

At its peak, Vietnam's drug industry was growing at 20% a year. However, production at companies in Ho Chi Minh City, which accounts for half of all medicines produced by Vietnam's one drug corporation and 118 local firms, fell 20%-40% in the first seven months of 1997 over the like, year-earlier period. The Ministry of Public Health says Vietnam exported drugs worth $5 million in first-half 1997, against imports worth $120 million. Exports for 1997 as a whole are projected to be 20% down on 1996.