The Ministry of Health will be inspected in 6 days.

An authoritative source from the Government Inspectorate (GI) said that the GI is expected to announce its inspection decision at the Ministry of Health on September 15th. The announcement will take place at the Ministry of Health headquarters.

"This is a planned inspection, focusing on investment projects at the Ministry of Health," a source said.

In response to the question of whether this inspection includes the inspection of drug import licensing, drug registration, and drug supply bidding by VN Pharma Joint Stock Company, the source said "no".

Continuing the questioning after the Prime Minister's directive, whether the Government Inspectorate had a plan to inspect matters related to VN Pharma, this person also stated "not yet".

Previously, on September 7th, the Government Office issued a document conveying the directive of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, requesting an investigation into the licensing of drug imports, the issuance of drug registration certificates, and the bidding process for drug supply by VN Pharma Joint Stock Company.

The official document states that recently, some media outlets have published articles about the case involving VN Pharma Joint Stock Company, reflecting on the lax management in the licensing of drug imports and registrations by the Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Health issued Document No. 949/BC-BYT dated August 29th reporting on the state management responsibility of the Ministry of Health in the VN Pharma Joint Stock Company case.

Regarding this matter, the Prime Minister requested the Government Inspectorate to conduct an inspection of the licensing of drug imports and the issuance of drug registration certificates for seven types of drugs manufactured by Helix Pharmaceuticals Inc., Canada, and the winning of drug supply contracts for hospitals by VN Pharma Joint Stock Company before the case occurred; and to report to the Prime Minister before December 31st.

As reported by Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper, many experts and National Assembly deputies have spoken out, requesting clarification of all aspects of the licensing process for importing the H-Capita cancer drug batch at VN Pharma company and the Ministry of Health's claim that it was substandard rather than counterfeit.

At the government press conference on August 30, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien stated that, based on the 2005 Pharmaceutical Law (Clause 23, 24, Article 2) and the results of the Ministry of Health's expert assessment, this batch of H-Capita medicine was only substandard, not counterfeit.

However, many experts in the fields of healthcare, anti-smuggling, counterfeiting, and legal matters believe there are grounds to conclude that the H-Capita batch is counterfeit, as the conclusions of the investigating agency and the expert panel clearly state that the batch of medicine has an unknown origin and is not intended for use as medicine for humans.

VN Pharma's actions show signs of constituting the crime of manufacturing and trading counterfeit goods as stipulated in Article 156 of the 1999 Penal Code (amended and supplemented in 2009).

The case is currently being reviewed by the High People's Procuracy in Ho Chi Minh City to clarify related procedural issues.

According to PLO