Health Ministry under scrutiny

The Government Inspectorate of Vietnam yesterday announced that it will launch a special inspection of the Ministry of Health, following revelations of fraud within the MoH’s pharmaceutical licensing process. 

The inspection will scrutinise the MoH’s implementation of decrees relating to internal accountability mechanisms. The MoH, like other Government agencies, is required to discover and properly punish and misconduct by its officials. The recent VN Pharma controversy, in which the company was licensed to provide fraudulent drugs, could indicate inadequate oversight within the MoH.

The inspection move came after Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc gave the green light to the decision, said deputy chief of the Government Inspectorate Dang Cong Huan.

“It’s not a random inspection, it’s a planned movement,” he added.

The inspection is scheduled to last for 70 days, excluding holidays and days off, the inspectorate agency said.

The inspection team will have 13 members, led by Phan Thăng Long, senior inspector and deputy head of the inspectorate agency’s Department for Socio-Cultural Inspection.

Nguyen Minh Man, acting head of the department, was assigned to supervise and submit proposals from the inspection team to the chief inspector of the Government Inspectorate Phan Van Sau.

Huấn ordered the health ministry to co-operate with the inspection team and actively provide necessary information to serve the inspection activities.

In response to the order, Deputy Ministry of Health Truong Quoc Cuong said the ministry would closely co-operate with the inspection team and provide all required information for the inspection.

In another movement, a representative of the Government Inspectorate talked with local media that next week the agency would set up another team to inspect VN Pharma’s licence to import seven drugs manufactured by Helix Pharmaceuticals Inc of Canada and the company’s registration papers for drug circulation, following the Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s order.

Early this month, Phuc asked the agency to inspect the case and send him a report before December 31.