HCMC – The HCMC Oncology Hospital will run out of chemicals for histopathology testing within a month if new supplies are not forthcoming.
The shortage of chemicals is an alarming issue, threatening the hospital’s operations, Dr. Pham Xuan Dinh, director of HCMC Oncology Hospital, said at a meeting with the HCMC National Assembly Delegation on October 6 afternoon.
It is mandatory to use chemicals compatible with the testing equipment. Otherwise, the testing results will be inaccurate, affecting the patients’ diagnosis and treatment.
Without the chemicals, the hospital cannot carry out histopathology tests for the patients.
The chemicals for testing are not included in the list of bidding for medical supplies as they are sold at only one price, while the bid estimates must provide three quotations as a basis for selecting the winning bid.
Additionally, the bidding for drugs and medical equipment faces difficulty because many items have yet to be classified into groups of medical supplies by the contractors, Dr. Dang Huy Quoc Thinh, deputy director of the hospital, said.
The Oncology Hospital recommended considering medical equipment a type of “unique good” and developing a separate law for bidding for those goods.
The HCMC Oncology Hospital is a leading hospital in the south of Vietnam, receiving more than 3,700 patients per day and implementing many high-tech techniques in cancer treatment.
