Doctors found issuing false prescriptions

Many people are illegally using health insurance cards and colluding with doctors at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City to appropriate medicine and sell it to the market, a Tuoi Tre investigation has found.

While many patients complain about the lack of specific medicine on the market, a large volume of medicine intended for holders of health insurance cards has been appropriated without detection at the Go Vap Hospital In HCMC.

Dozens of people have been found colluding with doctors at the hospital to appropriate medicine covered by the health insurance fund.

Nguyen Van An, a resident on Road 5, Ward 15, Go Vap District, holds  an important role in this medicine ring.

An has numerous health insurance cards with other people’s names on them. He colluded with doctors in using these cards to get medicine from the hospital and sell to the market.

An frequently visits a café, which is also the house of a woman named Le Thi My Phung, who plays the same role as An.

Om May 4, An left the café for the hospital and about 10 minutes later he returned with a bags of medicine in his hands, along with a medical examination book with another person’s name on it.

That morning, An used two health insurance cards to get medicine from the hospital and then sold the products to a pharmacy nearby.

On May 6 at the hospital, Tuoi Tre reporters found An inviting a young man named Du to the café for a chat. An later told Du that he could lend Du a health insurance card and a medical examination book for VND25,000 (US$1.2)

“You must return the card and book to me right after getting medicine from the hospital, since they are in the name of another person,” An said.  

An then gave Du the card and book in the name of Nguyen Minh Tam, 37, of Go Vap.

“If the health staff asks you to show your ID card, you just say you have forgotten to bring it along,” An advised. Du was later given examination card no. 24 without being asked about his ID card. 

Du was later diagnosed by Dr Tran Kim Nguyet as suffering from hypertension and multi-joint degeneration and the “patient” was prescribed three kinds of medicine totaling 44 tablets.

Du then received the medicine from the hospital’s pharmacy.

Mrs. Phung (the owner of the above-mentioned café) holds manyhealth insurance cards since she has relatives working in at Hue Phong Leather and Footwear.

With each card, Nam can get medicine from the hospital and sell them for hundreds of thousands of dong. Specifically, she can make VND400,000 ($19.2) by using four cards a day.

Collusion 

A number of doctors at three of the 11 examination rooms of the hospital issued false prescriptions to those who used health insurance cards that weren’t theirs.

One of the three examination rooms is no. 6, where Dr Le Huu Cong is in charge.

In January alone, Cong issued 150 false prescriptions, and the people who signed off on the prescribed medications were not the people whose names were shown on the health insurance cards.

On January 5, Dr Cong issued four prescriptions to Phung although the four health cards she used showed such names as Pham Thi Hang, Phan Thi My Loan, Dang Yen Linh and Dao Thi Sang – four of whom are workers at Hue Phong.

The total value of the four prescriptions is about VND685,000 ($33).

Other doctors who have issued fake prescriptions include To Nang Thi, hed of the Infection Department; and Dr. Nguyen Huu Tinh, at the Examination Department. The volume of medicine prescribed by each of these doctors was less than Cong.

Dr. Cong has worked in his examination room since October 2012. Shortly after he began working there, there were allegations that he had colluded with others outside the hospital to appropriate medicine by issuing false prescriptions.

The hospital’s management had two meetings with Dr. Cong on December 14 and January 7 to demand that he “not issue prescriptions to people who use health cards of others” and “not abuse his position to issue prescriptions against regulations.”

At these meetings, Cong promised not to commit such wrongdoing again, but on January 29, Le Thi Hue, a controller from the HCMC Health Insurance Agency, told the hospital that a number of its doctors, including Dr. Cong, had issued false prescriptions.

Confession

Tuoi Tre has worked with the hospital on the wrongdoings of a number of its doctors, and the hospital has asked those involved in the scam to submit reports on the issue.

Dr. Cong admitted that he issued false prescriptions and promised to pay compensation for damage caused by his actions and promised that he would not to commit them again.

“Please allow me to return the amount worth of medicine I have falsely prescribed during the period I worked at the examination room,” Dr. Cong said.

Dr. Nguyen Huu Tinh also admitted his wrongdoings and promised to pay compensation like Cong and vowed not to repeat such wrongdoings.

Meanwhile, To Nang Thi, head of the Infection Department, said, “I have issued prescriptions without the presence of the holder of the health cards, but I did not get any interest from such prescriptions.

“I issued them only because I had a regard for those who used health cards of others,” Dr Nang explained.