Illegal
intermediaries at hospitals across Vietnam are a long-standing problem in the
healthcare sector, with authorities having been unable to permanently address
the situation.
Tuoi Tre
(Youth) newspaper reporters went undercover as patients at the Ho Chi Minh City
Hospital of Dermato Venereology and were approached by some brokers the moment
they reached the infirmary.
“The
hospital does not accept patients at this time of the day,” a man said before
pointing toward a nearby private clinic.
“You do
not have to wait for long at that clinic. You only have to pay some VND10,000
[US$0.45] to VND20,000 [$0.9] higher as examination fees,” he elaborated.
Similar
situations could also be observed at the entrance of the Hoa Hao clinic in
District 10.
Having to
pay only an extra VND150,000 ($6.72) to an intermediary, patients can have
access to services there without having to wait in a queue.
After all
necessary payments had been carried out, the correspondents disguising
themselves as patients were brought to the examination room in just a few
minutes, despite the fact that there were tens of people waiting outside.
“I know
the activities of these mediators are illicit. However, I can save a lot of
time getting diagnosis or treatment at the infirmary by paying some additional
charges,” Huu Danh, a resident in Tan Binh District, said.
Not all
people are blessed with such luck when dealing with these middlemen as several
have reported being scammed.
Do Van
Tinh, a Hanoi resident who has lived with a giant tumor on his face since he
was just a young boy, decided to spend all the money he had getting treatment
at the K Hospital in the capital.
Tinh and
his brother, Do Van Tam, came to the infirmary last month when a man, about 30,
offered help, saying that he could provide Tinh with access to treatment at
private clinics run by top doctors from the hospital.
The
brothers were introduced to a nearby clinic, where Tinh underwent an X-ray
test, ultrasound, ENT endoscopy, and blood test before being diagnosed with
neurofibromatosis.
The
doctor there concluded that Tinh’s disease could not be treated at his facility
and charged him VND1.9 million ($85.14) for the medical examination, roughly
all the money Tinh had.
Authorities could do nothing
Several
employees at hospitals have been working with the intermediaries, introducing
patients to services outside of the infirmaries to earn commissions for
themselves.
A recent
tip-off from a female patient at the K Hospital to Minister of Health Nguyen
Thi Kim Tien showed that a doctor had scammed her with such a method, resulting
in Minister Tien ordering a probe and penalizing the practitioner.
According
to Bui Dieu, director of the hospital, the doctor has been transferred to
another facility while warnings have been issued to the entire staff at the
infirmary.
Meanwhile,
Phan Thanh Hai, director of the Hoa Hao clinic, stated that the middlemen’s
operations have become subtler.
The
mediators may cooperate with hospital staffers, Hai said, adding that they
could also disguise themselves as patients to look for ‘prey’ inside
infirmaries, introducing them to pharmacies and private clinics without proper
certification.
These
activities could affect the heath of patients, the director said, stating that
there had not been any permanent solution to the situation.
According
to a representative of the Ministry of Health, the agency will order all
hospitals to sign an agreement with local police to clear all brokers inside
and outside such facilities.
Health
officials are also expected to perform more regular inspections and imposed
more severe punishment upon offenders.
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