Discovered clinic "faking illnesses, extorting money" from patients

The General Clinic of Saigon Medical Services Company Limited, located at 153-155 Nguyen Van Cu, Ward 2, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, was discovered to be "faking illnesses and extorting money" from patients.

The General Clinic of Saigon Medical Services Company Limited, located at 153-155 Nguyen Van Cu, Ward 2, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, was discovered to be "faking illnesses and extorting money" from patients.

The Inspectorate of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health will transfer the case file to the City Police to investigate and clarify the illegal acts of this clinic and strictly handle them according to regulations.

The clinic is only approved by the Department of Health in the list of techniques for "Medical abortion for pregnancies up to 7 weeks".

On October 24, 2024, the Department of Health Inspectorate received a call for help from the family of a patient who was being held by a private clinic to "fake the disease and extort money". The patient's family provided evidence of the "fake disease" discussion right on the operating table.

Immediately after receiving the feedback, the Department of Health Inspectorate coordinated with local authorities to conduct a surprise inspection of the General Clinic of Saigon Medical Services Company Limited, address: 153-155 Nguyen Van Cu, Ward 2, District 5, with Mr. NVĐ. as the Company Director.

Patient named VTBT, female, born in 1992, came to the clinic on October 22, 2024 and was examined by doctor BTTH, who ordered an ultrasound. The ultrasound result was a 10-week, 4-day pregnancy, and the patient wanted to have an abortion.

The clinic charged 5 million VND, the BTTH doctor prescribed medical abortion pills but wrote in the medical record that the pregnancy was maintained with Obimin.

After 2 days of taking the medicine, the patient returned for a follow-up visit. The obstetrician prescribed an abortion but did not record the outpatient medical record nor did he have the patient sign a consent form before performing the abortion procedure.

Right on the operating table, the staff of this clinic continuously used tricks and threats to pressure the patient's family to pay more money for a painless procedure at a cost of 17 million. Because they did not have enough money to pay, the patient's family called the Department of Health for help.

The multidisciplinary clinic of Saigon Medical Services Company Limited was granted a license to operate medical examination and treatment by the Department of Health on September 13, 2023, with Dr. LTH in charge of technical expertise.

Also at this address, in September 2023, the Department of Health Inspectorate issued a Decision to sanction administrative violations with a total fine of 202 million VND and applied an additional penalty of suspending operations for a period of 4 months for the acts of "faking illnesses, extorting money", providing medical examination and treatment services beyond the scope of expertise stated in the medical examination and treatment license.

The clinic staff was reactive, uncooperative, and did not provide medical records and documents to the inspection team. Through the inspection, the violations were clearly identified. The Department of Health Inspectorate will proceed to handle administrative violations against Saigon Medical Services Company Limited for the following violations: Providing medical examination and treatment services beyond the scope of expertise stated in the medical examination and treatment license;

Failure to implement or inadequate implementation of infection control measures at medical examination and treatment facilities. Estimated fine of more than 100,000,000 VND and additional penalty of maximum penalty of "Suspension of the right to use the Medical Examination and Treatment License of the Clinic for a period of 4 months".

At the same time, administrative violations against BTTH doctors are punished for the following acts: Not making medical records according to the form prescribed by law; Prescribing medical examination and treatment services for personal gain, and applying additional penalties with the maximum penalty: "Deprivation of the right to use the medical examination and treatment practice certificate for BTTH doctors for a period of 3 months".

In addition, the Health Department Inspectorate will sanction individuals involved in violations during medical examination and treatment activities and consider revoking the right to use practice certificates (practice licenses) for a period of time for the above individuals.

When the results are available, the Department of Health Inspectorate will make them public on the Department of Health's electronic information portal so that people can know and monitor them. The Department of Health will continue to transfer the case file to the City Police Investigation Agency to investigate and clarify other signs of suspected violations of the law by Saigon Medical Services Company Limited for strict handling in accordance with regulations.

The Department of Health recommends that when using medical examination and treatment services and techniques at clinics in the city, people should look up the Department of Health's website to know the techniques that the clinic has approved by the Department of Health, and to know the doctors practicing at the clinic.

When suspecting that a clinic is operating without a license or that a doctor is practicing beyond the permitted scope, immediately call the Department of Health Inspectorate via hotline 0989401155 or via the "Online Health" app so that the Department of Health Inspectorate can promptly grasp the information, conduct surprise inspections and take strict measures.

This is also an information channel to help patients prevent and avoid situations like the above case, the clinic is only allowed by the Department of Health to perform "medical abortion for pregnancies up to 7 weeks old" while the clinic performed the abortion procedure, vacuum aspiration at 10 weeks and 4 days, which exceeded the scope of expertise allowed.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/phat-hien-phong-kham-ve-benh-moi-tien-benh-nhan-d228718.html