Revoking the decision to fine a doctor who 'badmouthed' the Minister of Health

The Department of Information and Communications of Thua Thien Hue met and agreed to withdraw the decision to punish doctor Hoang Cong Truyen.

On the evening of October 22, Mr. Le Sy Minh, Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Thua Thien Hue, said that after receiving instructions from the Minister of Information and Communications, the Department held a meeting and agreed to withdraw the decision to punish and apologize to Dr. Hoang Cong Truyen, Deputy Head of the Department of Emergency Resuscitation, Phong Dien District Medical Center.

Mr. Hoang Van Duc, Chief of Office of the Department of Health, affirmed that the decision to reprimand Dr. Truyen was based on the decision to impose administrative sanctions by the Department of Information and Communications. The Department of Health will only revoke the decision to discipline Dr. Truyen if the Department of Information withdraws the decision to impose sanctions.

In the morning of the same day, speaking to the press, Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan said that the punishment of doctor Hoang Cong Truyen was done by the Department of Information and Communications of Thua Thien Hue under its authority. When he received the information, he requested an investigation. If the content the doctor posted on Facebook does not have sufficient grounds to confirm that it is an insult to the honor, dignity, defamation, and slander of the Minister of Health, the decision to impose a punishment must be revoked.

"We must strictly handle acts of defamation, slander, and insult to the honor and dignity of others on social networks. But we must not unjustly handle acts without sufficient evidence," said Mr. Tuan, adding that "if we make a mistake, we must know how to correct it and learn from it."

Decision to discipline doctor Truyen of Phong Dien District Medical Center - Photo: D.Thanh

Previously, the Department of Information of Thua Thien Hue decided to fine Dr. Hoang Cong Truyen 5 million VND. The reason was that on his personal Facebook page, Dr. Truyen "advised" the Minister of Health to resign, criticized the Minister for not returning to the base, and for being weak in advising on security issues at the hospital...

The Ministry of Health later confirmed that the above content was defamatory, discrediting, insulting the dignity and honor of the head of the health sector, creating bad public opinion, and reducing people's trust in the Minister personally. The Ministry requested the Thua Thien Hue Department of Health to coordinate with the provincial police to verify the information of the Facebook account owner.

The Department of Information and Communications and the Department of Health of Thua Thien Hue province later clarified that the Facebook account owner was Dr. Hoang Cong Truyen and decided to impose a fine of VND5 million. After consideration and agreement from the leaders of the Department of Health, the Phong Dien District Medical Center decided to reprimand Dr. Truyen on August 15./.

According to VOV