Invite the elderly to have free eye exams and then sell high-priced functional foods

The office of "National Institute of Applied Research of Refractive Ophthalmology" in Gia Lai has closed and removed its signboard - Photo: TAN LUC

There is a functional food product priced at 1.4 million VND/box, but when opened, there are only 2 small bottles with a few pills, like fish oil pills, inside.

Not licensed to practice medicine

On September 24, "National Institute of Applied Research in Refractive Ophthalmology - Gia Lai Office" quietly closed and removed its sign after authorities inspected it.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre Online, Dr. Ly Minh Thai - Director of the Gia Lai Provincial Department of Health - said that after receiving reports of irregularities at this facility, on September 23, the Department of Health set up a surprise inspection team to verify and clarify.

However, when the inspection team arrived at the facility at 52 Nguyen Tat Thanh, Pleiku City, they discovered that the facility had closed, the sign had been removed, and the whereabouts of the person were unknown. Therefore, the inspection team is making a report on the inspection.

The facility's signboard was just removed on September 23 - Photo: TAN LUC

According to the leader of the Department of Health, this agency is currently coordinating with the police to clarify information related to this facility.

Doctor Thai said the facility did not notify the Department of Health when organizing eye examination and treatment activities, and the department also did not grant a license for medical examination and treatment activities to this unit.

Previously, some elderly people in Tra Da commune, Pleiku city, reported that the People's Committee of the commune and the Association of the Elderly introduced them to participate in the free eye examination program at the "National Institute of Applied Research in Refractive Ophthalmology - Gia Lai Office" on the occasion of its opening.

According to Mr. Dang Cong Du - Head of the Elderly Association of Village 2, Tra Da Commune, the association has 18 people who were picked up by the facility for eye examination.

Upon arrival, everyone had their eyes checked, then received gifts: a box of eye supplements, a box of agarwood essential oil, and a T-shirt.

Selling million-dollar functional foods for the elderly

Mr. Du informed that after giving gifts, the staff continued to introduce functional foods, eye care products and products to support the treatment of elderly diseases such as bone and joint diseases, diabetes, etc. and then invited people to buy the products. If they did not buy, they would ask for the gifts back.

When one member of the group spoke loudly in anger, the unit stopped asking for gifts, but many people listened and spent money to buy various products.

Specifically, out of 18 people who went, 10 people bought products ranging from 2.2 to 2.7 million VND. Mr. Du alone only bought 2 cans of milk for 600,000 VND.

The most expensive product is the agarwood essential oil product advertised at 2.8 million VND/2 boxes. But when you open the big box, there are only 2 small bottles, each bottle contains about 1/3 of the pills like fish oil pills.

Some products and functional foods are given away and sold to the elderly - Photo: TAN LUC

According to Mr. Le Ngoc Tuong - Vice Chairman of Tra Da Commune People's Committee, previously, an employee of the National Institute of Ophthalmic Refractive Research and Application Joint Stock Company contacted the commune to work.

On the occasion of the opening of the Gia Lai branch, the company organized a program to examine and measure eye refraction for free and give gifts to people over 50 years old in the commune.

After that, Mr. Tuong discussed with the chairman of the Commune Elderly Association, suggesting that if the association participates in the program, the chairman must go along to promptly grasp and handle the situation; clearly inform members to only participate in eye measurement, examination and receive gifts, not to register for eye surgery or buy goods if advised.

But after returning from the examination, Mr. Tuong received information that the elderly in Tra Da commune bought goods after having their eyes examined.

According to statistics, there were 48 senior citizens and 20 people from Tra Da commune participating in the program. Of these, 26 members of the Senior Citizens Association and 7 people bought products from this company.

To find out about the incident, the reporter called the phone number on the facility's signboard. A man answered the phone but said he had not used this number before and had only recently restored it, so he did not know about the incident!

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/moi-nguoi-gia-kham-mat-mien-phi-roi-ban-thuc-pham-chuc-nang-gia-cao-20240924150304673.htm