General clinic in Ho Chi Minh City 'fakes illness', demands pregnant woman pay 65 million VND

On October 31, information from the Inspectorate of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, the unit has just discovered that the General Clinic of the August General Clinic Company Limited (August General Clinic; 74 Cach Mang Thang Tam, Vo Thi Sau Ward, District 3) "fake illnesses and extort money" from patients.

August General Clinic (74 Cach Mang Thang Tam, Vo Thi Sau Ward, District 3). (Photo: Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health)

Accordingly, on October 30, the Inspector of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health received a call for help from the family of a pregnant woman who was detained to "fake illness and extort money" at the August General Clinic.

The pregnant woman's mother said that on October 29, she took her child to the clinic for an abortion and was advised the price would be 10 million VND.

Here, the pregnant woman was given medicine to "abort the fetus". Before leaving, the doctor gave her two more pills and told her to take them at home, and scheduled a follow-up appointment a day later.

On the day of the follow-up visit, the pregnant woman was examined by a female doctor, who prescribed an injection and delivered the fetus. During the examination, the doctor informed the pregnant woman that because the fetus was large, this was a difficult case and that a painless procedure would be required, costing 65 million VND. Because they did not have enough money to pay, the pregnant woman’s family called the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health for help.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Inspectorate coordinated with the Ho Chi Minh City 115 Emergency Center to transfer the patient to Tu Du Hospital for continued treatment.

During the inspection of the clinic, the team noted that the patient's treatment team included Dr. NTV and nurse LTTN. Dr. NTV admitted to examining and treating the patient and prescribing pregnancy-preserving medicine, supplements, and iron, but the issue of counseling and prescribing medication to terminate the pregnancy was unclear.

Meanwhile, nurse LTTN confirmed that she had consulted a patient about a painless abortion service package for 65 million VND, 10 million VND higher than the initial consultation price. This nurse also arbitrarily gave the patient 2 Misoprostol 200mcg abortion pills, without a doctor's prescription.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, the August General Clinic was granted a license to operate medical examination and treatment in August 2022 by Dr. LNB in charge of technical expertise, and Dr. YHD in charge of obstetrics, including the technique of "Medical abortion for pregnancies up to 7 weeks".

However, previously, the YHD doctor was administratively sanctioned by the Health Department Inspectorate and had his medical practice certificate revoked for 2 months (starting from September 2024).

This clinic was also administratively sanctioned by the Department of Health Inspectorate 3 times in 2022, 2023 and 2024 for violations such as: Practitioners not registering to practice medical examination and treatment according to the provisions of law; trading in goods of unknown origin, having their medical examination and treatment practice certificates revoked for a limited period of time...

The Department of Health has transferred the case to the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department to investigate, consider and prosecute the clinic for illegal acts that directly affect the health and rights of the people.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Inspectorate requested the facility to temporarily suspend all medical examination and treatment activities immediately upon inspection until the incident is resolved.

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