Improving access to opioid medicines in Vietnam

Important progress is being made towards the safe accessibility of opioid medicines in Vietnam.

Madame Nguyen Thi Phuong Cham, formerly a pharmacist in the Ministry of Health in Vietnam, and a Pain and Policy Studies Group Fellow, has published research in the Journal of Pain & Symptom Management, entitled: Toward safe accessibility of opioid pain medicines in Vietnam and other developing countries: a balanced policy method.As reported on the Pain Policy blog:

“Some important positive outcomes of this work include:

  • the MoH improved access to opioids by removing a maximum dose of opioids per day and allowing pain patients, in addition to cancer and AIDS patients, to receive an opioid prescription for up to seven days per prescription
  • morphine consumption has increased each year, and as of 2010 was nine-fold greater than in 2003; and
  • the number of hospitals offering palliative care has increased from 3 to 15.” … read more.
From ehospice.

Published on: 6 March, 2015 | Last modified: 6 March, 2015