85 Per cent of Medicinal Materials Imported

According to the National Institute of Medicinal Materials, under the Ministry of Public Health, Vietnam has now 400 species of animals and 3,850 species of plants, which can be used for manufacturing medicines. Of which, there are many precious species, such as lysimachia vulgaris and marantia arundinacea. Ironically, locally-farmed materials account for 15 per cent while 85 per cent come from import sources. A conference on developing oriental medicines held recently by the Ministry of Public Health discussed the issues.

 

Ngoc Dung, owner of an oriental medicine shop at 90 Lan Ong street, Hanoi, said in a joyful voice: “Our family has traded oriental medicines for around 30 years. Never before have I realised that patients have preferred oriental medicines.” This will help boost the development of oriental medicines. However, there are problems. For example, shops and establishments of oriental medicines have mushroomed with attractive offers but they almost have been certified yet.

 

Also, the oriental medicine market has witnessed complicated development as materials from local sources are not adequate, mainly are imported from China. Therefore, it is difficult to evaluate the quality of materials. In fact, the job has been done on a basis of experience only. 

 

Materials come from plant sources are preferred by Vietnamese people. Up to 30 per cent of patients have been treated with oriental medicines and the figure continues to be on the rise. Vietnam has an advantage with nationwide distribution network with 45 institutes and hospitals of oriental medicines, let alone 242 hospitals with oriental medicine departments, 4,000 diagnosis groups. Each year, over 20,000 tonnes of medicinal materials are used by the local pharmacy. Apart from the local market, the international market has a great demand for plant-based medicines. The world each year needs 100,000 tonnes of attar.

 

Even though Vietnam has abundant materials and a long last oriental medicine, as well as a huge market, Vietnam has not had a famous material like Chinese panax pseudo-ginseng or Korean panax. Bitter tea, originated from Cao Bang province, is very useful but so far, only Chinese tea has become famous. In 2001, Vietnam earned only US$15 million from exporting medicinal materials, while China earned US$2 billion from exporting medicinal materials in 1994.

 

Le Minh Diem, director of the Oriental Pharmacy Company (OPC), said that most establishments used raw materials but Vietnam lacked large-sized specialised medicinal material supply areas. The natural sources have become increasingly exhausted with some precious species, such as stephania rotunda is disappearing. At the same time, poor knowledge of some private establishments and farmers has led to a reduction in value of Vietnamese medicinal materials.

 

According to the statistics by the National Institute of Medicinal Materials, up to 30 per cent of materials are mouldy. As a result, many Vietnamese medicinal materials have lost their markets as they could not compete with the same products of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Moreover, due to a widespread import of materials and a lack a tight examination of State management agencies, the local oriental medicine market has faced a disturbance while many products failed to be registered but are still sold under other registered brands.

 

Le Duong Dong, head of the Pharmacy Department, admitted that the role of State-owned pharmaceutical companies had faded out in supplying materials for oriental medicine establishments. Circulation and distribution of materials are in hand of the private sector, even though many private establishments are disqualified.

 

To settle the problems, in the coming time the Ministry of Public Health will issue priority policies to encourage people to protect medicinal materials, developing suitable exploitation plans and major material supply areas in co-operation with institutes, universities and trading establishments. More concretely, concentrated material supply areas will be formed with the organic agricultural method to have clean materials. The method is considered the best way for agricultural production, because it is sustainable and safe, producing high quality materials.