Clarifying responsibility for allowing a group of people to illegally conduct health check-ups and then sell functional foods

Recall all products

On the afternoon of June 12, Ms. Vi Thi Thanh - Chairwoman of Pha Danh Commune People's Committee (Ky Son District), said that the authorities are reviewing and recalling all products of Viet My International Investment and Consulting Joint Stock Company that have been sold to people.

“They went to all 10 villages in the commune to provide free medical check-ups and then introduced and sold the products to the people. Of these, only one village had no buyers. According to incomplete statistics, people in the commune spent a total of nearly 70 million VND to buy these products,” Ms. Thanh said.

According to Ms. Thanh, on June 9, this group of people came to the commune People's Committee headquarters to meet her, bringing many documents, including a notice from the Ky Son District Health Department to ask the commune leaders to confirm their agreement on the "Plan to organize free health consultation and survey, coordinate community health care, prevent non-communicable diseases and introduce products - Ministry of Health".

According to this Plan, the company's team will perform thyroid ultrasound, support free general abdominal ultrasound, support bone density testing... then introduce the product. The company will support each organization point in the village with 300,000 VND. The plan also states that "during the product introduction process, people register according to their wishes, not forcing people to buy".

“After reviewing the documents, I suggested that they work with the Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee in charge of culture and society, Mr. Luong Van Tac. Mr. Tac then signed to confirm the company's plan,” Ms. Vi Thi Thanh added.

The leaders of Pha Danh Commune People's Committee signed and stamped the plan, although the content of this plan clearly stated that this company would conduct health examinations for people as well as sell products after introduction. Meanwhile, this company has not been approved by Nghe An Department of Health to organize health examinations for people; at the same time, it is not allowed to sell products.

Thanks to the plan signed and stamped by the commune, this group of people then went to the villages, put on white coats and examined the people. After listening to advice about their illness during the examination as well as being introduced to the uses of health protection foods, many people in the highlands spent money to buy the products.

“Seeing them in their coats, one would think they were doctors. Hearing them talk about their illnesses, who wouldn’t be scared? Seeing the district and then the commune recommend them, everyone trusted them very much,” said a resident of Pha Danh commune.

Not only in Pha Danh commune, according to the reporter's investigation, the group of people from this company also went to at least 10 communes in Ky Son district to conduct health check-ups, then introduce products and sell them.

Previously, through the trick of free health check-ups, this group also went to some communes in Que Phong district to sell products to people. By the afternoon of June 11, after some people began to suspect and reflect on social networks, this group quietly left the area.

“We are asking all communes in the area to report and check the number of people who have purchased the product. The Health Department’s document sent to the communes also requested close supervision to prevent sales. In fact, this delegation visited many communes, but some locations had no people participating, so they withdrew,” said Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung - Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ky Son district.

Need to clarify responsibilities

Previously, on May 22, Mr. Vi Chien Thang - Head of the Ky Son District Health Department signed a document "Notification and supervision of product advertising activities" sent to the communes regarding the Viet My International Investment and Consulting Joint Stock Company's implementation of consulting and introducing health protection products in the area. In this document, it is stated that on May 20, the District Health Department received an introduction letter from Viet My International Investment and Consulting Joint Stock Company and related legal documents on implementing consulting and introducing health protection products in the area. Through checking the documents, there is a Certificate of Business Registration; Certificate of advertising content confirmation; Certificate of product declaration registration acceptance... The introduced products are Bao Minh health protection food pills and Hoan My bone and joint health protection food.

In this document, the Department of Health also requested communes to closely monitor the organization of seminars and introductions of functional food products of Viet My International Investment and Consulting Joint Stock Company according to the provisions of law. At the same time, it is required to immediately stop the organization of introductions when detecting signs of introducing and advertising products that are not in accordance with the content confirmed by the Department of Food Safety, taking advantage of product introduction seminars to examine and treat diseases, illegally consult, sell and introduce functional foods as medicines in the management area; Strictly handle violations according to regulations in the field of advertising. Report to the District People's Committee (through the Department of Health) for timely handling measures.

In addition, the document also requires Viet My International Investment and Consulting Joint Stock Company to report to the local authorities of communes and towns before organizing the program and only organize the implementation of the program when it has the consent of the local authorities where the program is organized. At the same time, develop a specific plan, notify the working schedule to the locality to monitor and supervise the implementation of the program. During the implementation process, no fees must be collected, security and order must be ensured at the venue and safety must be ensured for people participating in listening to the advertisement. The company must comply with the registration content and be responsible before the law if it violates the provisions of the Advertising Law...

Meanwhile, in reality, the products this company sells are not the same as what they have worked with the Department of Health. Specifically, this company sells to the people "Bao Minh pills" and "An Binh bone and joint pills". According to the leader of Pha Danh Commune People's Committee, after receiving the introduction letter from the Department of Health, the group of people from this company went to all 10 villages in the commune to introduce and sell many products.

“They sell two types of functional food products, each box they say costs up to 700,000 VND but they give people a 50% discount, so it is only 350,000 VND. People like the promotion, plus after being examined and found out they are sick, many people spend money to buy it,” said the leader of Pha Danh Commune People's Committee.

Discussing this issue, the leader of the Department of Health said that the unit has also issued a document on rectifying the medical examination and treatment activities, advertising and introducing products of the Viet My International Investment and Consulting Joint Stock Company. In particular, the Department requested the People's Committee of Ky Son district to immediately stop all activities related to health consultation; seminars, and product introduction of this company in Ky Son district. At the same time, measures must be taken to handle, rectify and overcome the above violations according to the provisions of law.

“We will check whether this group of people have a medical practice certificate or not to be able to conduct such examinations. Regardless of whether they have a certificate or not, the health examination activities organized by Viet My International Investment and Consulting Joint Stock Company for people in Pha Danh commune, Ky Son district without approval from the Nghe An Provincial Department of Health are violations of the provisions of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15 dated January 9, 2023 and Decree No. 96/2023/ND-CP dated December 30, 2023 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment,” said the leader of the Nghe An Department of Health.