Hanoi, Feb. 26 -- More than 6,000 patients nationwide have received free medicines worth over 1.6 trillion VND (61.3 million USD) after seven years of implementing a Ministry of Health (MoH) circular.

Circular No. 31/2018/TT-BYT, issued on October 30, 2018 and effective from January 1, 2019, enables healthcare facilities to provide donated medicines to patients in need.

According to the MoH's Department of Health Insurance, by the end of 2025, 18 medicine support programmes had been approved and rolled out at 63 central and local hospitals.

The schemes focus primarily on cancer, rare diseases and severe chronic conditions, areas where treatment costs are high and often require expensive biological and originator drugs. In many cases, e...