Strict requirements for hospital pharmacies

Beginning June 10, a retail pharmacy in a hospital must possess a certificate of eligibility for medicine trading. Under Ministry of Health Circular No 15/2011/TT-BYT of April 19, such a pharmacy may take the form of drugstore, medicine counter or retail store for traditional and herbal medicaments located within a hospital’s premises.

They must post drug prices pursuant to regulations and may not sell drugs at prices higher than those posted. The retail price, including invoiced purchase price and retail markup, must not be higher than those of drugs in the same category on the market. The regulation details allowed markups for different types of pharmacies operating in hospitals.

Those retailing traditional herbal medicaments must have technical and physical foundations and personnel satisfying “good pharmacy practice” principles and standards set forth in the relevant roadmap. Foreign-invested hospitals may not open or enter into joint ventures to open their own retail pharmacies without Government permission for pilot operations. The circular supersedes Ministry of Health Decision No 24/2008/QD-BYT of July 2008 on hospital pharmacies.

Tags: Circular No 15/2011/TT-BYT

Posted by VBN on Jun 15 2011. Filed under Health & Drugs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry