Vietnam Abolishes Medical Device Bidding Regulations... Expectation for Expansion of Domestic Exports

The removal of local regulations that had been obstacles to the entry of domestic medical devices into Vietnam is expected to boost exports.

On the 20th, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced that the Vietnamese Ministry of Health abolished the "Regulations on Public Bidding for Medical Devices in Vietnam," which had applied unfavorable bidding grades to Korean medical devices.

Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Vietnam had classified bidding grades from 1 to 6 based on factors such as the manufacturing country of the medical device subject to bidding and whether the reference country approval was obtained. Korea was not designated as a reference country, so the lowest grade, "Grade 6," was applied during exports.

In response, the government, led by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Vietnam, continuously requested the Vietnamese Ministry of Health to change the bidding system. Amid this, on the 14th, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health announced the abolition of the regulation to improve the bidding and purchasing process of medical devices in public medical institutions and to facilitate the smooth supply of medical devices within the country.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety anticipated, "With the abolition of the Vietnamese bidding regulations and the discontinuation of the application of the bidding grade classification system to domestic medical devices, there will be significant progress in the entry of excellent domestic medical devices into the Vietnamese market."