Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health rescues pregnant woman who was 'made up with illness and extorted money' by clinic right on the operating table

Inspectors from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health recently conducted a surprise inspection and rescued a pregnant woman who had her illness "faked and money extorted" from the August General Clinic (District 3) right on the operating table.

The August General Clinic was inspected by the Department of Health Inspectorate and discovered to have "fabricated illnesses and extorted money" from pregnant women right on the operating table - Photo: Provided by the Department of Health Inspectorate

On October 31, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health announced that it had discovered that the General Clinic of the August General Clinic Company Limited, located at 74 Cach Mang Thang Tam, Vo Thi Sau Ward, District 3, was "faking illnesses, extorting money", disregarding the law and people's lives.

The unit has transferred the case to the City Police Department to investigate, review and prosecute the clinic for illegal acts that directly affect the health and rights of the people.

Previously, on October 30, the Health Department Inspectorate received a call for help from the family of a pregnant woman who was detained to "fake illness and extort money" at the above clinic.

The patient's mother said that on October 29, when she brought her child to the clinic for an abortion, she was advised that the cost would be 10 million VND.

The doctor examined and said the fetus was 18 weeks old. Then, a female doctor came in to examine and gave her medicine to "abort the fetus" (name of medicine unknown).

Before leaving, the patient was given two abortion pills by the clinic doctor and scheduled for a follow-up visit on October 30.

On the day of the follow-up visit, the patient was examined by a female doctor, who prescribed an injection and a cesarean section. During the examination, the doctor informed her that because the fetus was large, this was a difficult case and that a painless procedure was needed for 65 million VND.

Because they did not have enough money to pay, the patient's family called the Department of Health for help. The Department of Health Inspectorate coordinated with the 115 Emergency Center to assist and transfer the patient to Tu Du Hospital for further treatment.

At the time of checking the clinic, the delegation noted that the treatment team for the patient included doctor NTV and nurse LTTN.

Doctor NTV admitted to examining and treating patients and prescribing pregnancy-preserving drugs, vitamin and iron supplements, but she did not know about the issue of counseling and prescribing abortion drugs.

When asked, nurse LTTN confirmed that she had consulted on a painless abortion service package for the patient at a price of 65 million VND, 10 million VND higher than the initial consultation price, and arbitrarily prescribed two pills of the abortion drug "Misoprostol 200mcg" to be taken without a doctor's prescription.

This clinic was granted a license to operate medical examination and treatment by the Department of Health in August 2022, with 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, Dr. D. was administratively sanctioned by the Department of Health Inspectorate, including having his medical practice certificate revoked for two months starting from September 2024.

The Health Department Inspectorate requested the facility to suspend all medical examination and treatment activities immediately upon inspection until the incident is resolved.

August General Clinic has been fined many times.

The Health Department Inspectorate said that it had previously imposed administrative penalties many times on the August General Clinic due to many violations, specifically:

- In 2022, he was fined for operating with a sign that did not have enough basic information as required by law...

- In 2023, he was fined for not wearing a name tag, keeping a medical examination and treatment book but not recording it fully according to the law...

- In 2024, be fined for advertising using the word "best" or words with similar meanings without legal documents to prove it according to regulations.

At the same time, six individuals of the clinic had their medical practice certificates temporarily revoked.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/so-y-te-tp-hcm-giai-cuu-thai-phu-bi-phong-kham-ve-benh-moi-tien-ngay-tren-ban-mo-20241031080457332.htm