Cosmetic services in Nghe An: 'Hang goat's head, sell dog meat'

Ambiguous name

Standing in the center of Vinh City, searching for the phrase “beauty salon” on Google Maps, a series of red dots immediately appeared indicating the locations of surrounding beauty salons. In just a small area, the reporter recorded a series of establishments named “Beauty Salon” or “Beauty Institute” around the city center.

Vinh City currently has more than 40 beauty salons with signs saying Beauty Salon or Beauty Institute.

However, according to Mr. Tran Nguyen Truyen - Chief Inspector of Nghe An Department of Health, the names of these beauty establishments are all wrong. Because according to Decree 109 and Decree 155 of the Government, the name of these establishments must be called "Aesthetic service establishments". For establishments licensed by the Department of Health, they are called "Aesthetic clinic". Therefore, the name on the signboard must also match the name in the license.

According to the Chief Inspector of the Department of Health, hanging a "beauty salon" sign like this is against regulations. Photo: Tien Hung

“In Nghe An at present, all establishments that name themselves “Beauty Salon” or “Beauty Institute” are wrong and can be fined. The fault is that the name on the signboard and advertisement is incorrect compared to the license to practice,” Mr. Truyen said, adding that the responsibility for the mistake in this matter lies with Vinh City. Because when put into operation, the establishments will send documents to the city, and when they realize that the name of the establishment is incorrect, they should take measures from the beginning.

According to a survey by Captain Ngo Anh Sang (Nghe An Provincial Police), there are currently 75 beauty salons in Vinh City, and more than 40 of them have the name "Beauty Salon" or "Beauty Institute" on their signs. "This makes people mistakenly believe that there are many beauty salons operating in Vinh City. However, not many people know that currently there is only 1 hospital and 3 clinics licensed. I think that in the coming time, the authorities need to ask the facilities to change their signs, or impose fines according to regulations and force them to dismantle them," Captain Sang said.

This "beauty salon" was recently discovered by the inspection team to have committed many violations. Photo: Tien Hung

In addition, although they are only cosmetic service establishments, many establishments openly advertise on their signs many services that are not allowed to be performed. Because according to regulations, cosmetic service establishments are only allowed to perform activities such as tattooing, spraying, embroidering on the skin, and do not use injectable anesthetics.

Services that use drugs, substances, and devices to intervene in the human body (surgery, procedures, interventions involving injections, injections, pumping, radiation, waves, burning, or other invasive interventions) that change the skin color, shape, weight, and defects of body parts (skin, nose, eyes, lips, face, chest, abdomen, buttocks, and other parts of the human body), tattooing, spraying, and embroidering on the skin using injectable anesthetics are only allowed to be performed at hospitals with cosmetic specialties or cosmetic clinics or medical examination and treatment facilities with specialized scope of activities in cosmetic specialties, depending on the scope of professional activities approved by competent authorities. According to regulations, in Vinh City, there are currently only 3 clinics and 1 hospital that are allowed to perform these procedures.

In Vinh City, there are currently at least 75 cosmetic facilities, but only 3 clinics and one hospital are licensed. Photo: Tien Hung

Loose management

Ms. Ho Thi Hoa - Deputy Head of Vinh City Health Department said that the establishments that spray and tattoo lips and eyelids are operating "illegally" but handling them is very difficult, because they have to be caught red-handed to be punished. Up to now, the department has not handled any cases, because the first floor of these establishments receives patients and provides consultation; the upper floor performs procedures. When the authorities appear, through the camera, these establishments immediately stop performing procedures. On the other hand, due to the thin management force, they cannot control and it is difficult to contact, inspect and handle.

Ms. Hoa also admitted that the management force did not regularly inspect, and in the rare times they did, there were no customers performing procedures, so they could not handle it. Meanwhile, the facilities often concealed and denied their violations. They used the excuse that the facility owner was away to delay the reception time in order to eliminate all illegal activities whenever there was an inspection team.

Faced with the chaotic situation of cosmetic establishments operating in the area, recently, leaders of the Department of Health and representatives of the Provincial Police had a meeting with Vinh City on this issue. At the meeting, Mr. Dau Vinh Thinh - Vice Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee admitted his shortcomings in causing the limitations mentioned by the working group.

However, he also criticized the leaders of the Health Department as well as the Vinh City Medical Center. Even at the city's recent working session with the provincial delegation on medical activities in the area, no one from the Vinh City Medical Center was present. That alone shows the indifference in the management of private medical and pharmaceutical practices in Vinh City.

At the working session with Vinh City, leaders of Nghe An Department of Health suggested that the city should be resolute in the field of cosmetic services. Photo: Tien Hung

Mr. Dau Huy Hoan - Deputy Director of the Department of Health said that in order to effectively manage beauty establishments, all levels and sectors must take drastic action; strengthen inspection and examination activities, strictly punish violations; and be more strict in granting business licenses to spas and beauty establishments. In this field, since 2017, the Nghe An Department of Health has delegated the management of beauty establishments to the city, district and town. Therefore, the responsibility for inspection and supervision belongs to the Vinh City Health Department.

At the meeting with Vinh City, the leader of Nghe An Department of Health suggested that the city should be decisive in this issue. “First of all, we must thoroughly handle the issue of signs and advertisements of beauty establishments, and return them to their proper names. Many people think that signs are just a small matter, but in fact, they are very big, because customers mainly rely on signs and advertisements to get beauty treatments. Vinh City should take strong action on this issue,” said Mr. Hoan.

Recently, the interdisciplinary inspection team of the Department of Health and the Provincial Police discovered many violations from Dvincy Lam Hong Aesthetic Institute, Korean Aesthetic Institute, and Quynh Huong Aesthetic Institute.

Recently, the interdisciplinary inspection team of the Department of Health and the Provincial Police discovered many violations from Dvincy Lam Hong Aesthetic Institute, Korean Aesthetic Institute, and Quynh Huong Aesthetic Institute. Here, some facilities have not presented a number of legal documents, invoices, vouchers, and documents proving that the facilities' operations are legal. The team discovered that these facilities had many hemostatic medicine shells, injection painkiller bottle shells, used syringes and needles, many bloody bandages and gloves, and many post-surgery appointment cards such as: lower eyelid surgery, upper eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty, labiaplasty, laser hair removal; especially, 3 syringes were found with drugs already taken, but it was not known what kind of drugs. In addition, on the advertising leaflet of this facility, it also performed techniques that only licensed specialized facilities can perform such as: hair removal, melasma treatment with laser, muscle lifting, wrinkle removal, telangiectasia treatment, etc.