THE PRIME MINISTER OF GOVERNMENT
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SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM
Independence - Freedom - Happiness
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No: 222/2003/QD-TTg
Hanoi, November 03, 2003
 
DECISION
APPROVING THE NATIONAL POLICY ON TRADITIONAL MEDICINE AND PHARMACY TILL THE YEAR 2010
THE PRIME MINISTER
Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government
2. Specific objectives:
a) To perfect the traditional medicine and pharmacy organization and management system: The provincial/municipal Health Services shall each have a traditional medicine and pharmacy management section; the health centers of rural and urban districts, provincial capitals and towns shall be staffed with full-time officials in charge of monitoring the traditional medicine and pharmacy work so as to well ensure the performance of tasks of scientific research, personnel training, medical examination and treatment, growing of medicinal herbs and raising of medicinal animals, drug preparation and production.
b) The provincial/municipal medical examination and treatment establishments shall also include traditional medicine general hospitals; the general hospitals, the health centers of rural and urban districts, provincial capitals and towns shall have their own traditional medicine departments; the health stations of communes, wards, district townships shall have their own units for medical examination and treatment with traditional medicine, each of which shall be managed by a traditional medicine physician (traditional medicine assistant-physician or galenic physician or higher level), who is on the health station's payroll.
To encourage domestic and foreign organizations as well as individuals to invest in various forms of medical examination and treatment with traditional medicine under the provisions of law.
The traditional medicine hospitals, the medical and/or pharmaceutical universities, the medical and/or pharmaceutical intermediate vocational training schools and the commune/ward/township health stations shall have their own medicinal plant gardens.
c) Annual norms for medical examination and treatment with traditional medicine: The centrally-run establishments shall ensure 10%, the provincially-run establishments: 20%, the district-run establishments: 25% and the commune-run establishments: 40%, of the number of people undergoing medical examination and treatment.
d) Norms for use of traditional drugs at medical establishments of various levels: Traditional drugs shall account for 30% of the total volume of medicines domestically produced and circulated; the norms for use of traditional drugs shall be 10% at the centrally-run establishments, 20% at the provincially-run establishments, 25% at the district-run establishments and 40% at the commune-run establishments.
3. Major solutions and policies:
a) Organizational and managerial solutions:
- Perfecting the systems of management, medical examination and treatment, scientific research, personnel training and traditional drug production from the central to commune/ward levels.
- Diversifying forms of services on medical examination and treatment with traditional medicine.
b) Human resource development solutions:
- Standardizing, diversifying and expanding forms of personnel training in the field of traditional medicine and pharmacy. Stepping up the training of the contingent of applied officials and physicians (Galenic physicians, herbal pharmacists, traditional medicine assistant physicians, traditional medicine physicians) for therapy establishments, at the same time enhancing the training of the contingent of specialized physicians (hospitalization physicians, specialized physicians of grade 1, specialized physicians of grade 2, masters and doctors in traditional medicine) for research institutions and therapy establishments at various levels.
- Setting up the Traditional Medicine and Pharmacy Academy.
- Setting up faculties or study subjects of traditional medicine and pharmacy in medical and pharmaceutical universities, intermediate vocational training schools of the central or local level of various types.
- Working out and promulgating programs on training traditional medicine and pharmacy personnel.
- Working out regular fostering plans in order to standardize the contingent of traditional medicine workers; classifying and grading galenic physicians and herbal pharmacists in order to adopt policies for rational employment and preferences.
c) Mechanism-, policy-related solutions:
- The State protects the copyrights, ownership and adopts policies to encourage physicians to contribute and bring into full play good prescriptions, valuable medicinal plants and experiences in efficient disease prevention and treatment with traditional medicine; adopts preferential policies to encourage the studies on inheritance and/or application of traditional medicine and pharmacy as well as on the combination between the traditional medicine and pharmacy and the modern medicine and pharmacy.
- Promulgating preferential policies in support of the farming of pharmaceutical materials, the production of traditional drugs and the policies for rational exploitation of natural pharmaceutical materials, conservation, regeneration and development of pharmaceutical genes sources; setting up Hai Thuong