On the sidelines of the conference of the Hospital Directors Club of Northern provinces on April 18, Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Xuan Co - Director of Bach Mai Hospital (Hanoi) - spoke frankly about the risk of fake medicine, health protection foods and functional foods penetrating into the hospital system.
Bach Mai Hospital has completely stopped trading functional foods at the pharmacy for 3 years now. At the same time, strictly prohibit any form of prescription or consultation on the use of functional foods even indirectly outside the hospital - Associate Professor Co affirmed.
This information was given in the context that Thanh Hoa Provincial Police have just dismantled a ring that produced and traded nearly 10 tons of counterfeit drugs, operating since 2021, illegally profiting nearly 200 billion VND. The group of subjects forged 21 drugs, mainly treating bones and joints, using ingredients such as starch, bamboo charcoal, colorants, etc. These products were labeled foreign and sold widely online, especially targeting the elderly.
The Ministry of Health said that it has not recorded any products from this line entering public hospitals, but still recommends that people should only buy medicine at legal pharmacies and under the guidance of doctors.
At Bach Mai Hospital, Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Xuan Co affirmed that up to now, no cases of fake drugs or fake milk have been detected entering the inpatient treatment system. However, in the face of increasingly many cases of trading in fake drugs, milk and functional foods being discovered with sophisticated tricks, the hospital has proactively reviewed the entire supply chain and inpatient pharmacies to ensure absolute safety for patients.
"We have controlled tightly from the start. All drugs brought into the hospital must go through a strict bidding process, with clear legal documents and origins. There is no such thing as drugs floating around and not being accepted for treatment without winning the bid" - Mr. Co said.
He also said that the hospital is closely coordinating with authorities to check and handle any unusual signs in the prescription or distribution of functional foods, and called on people to proactively report to promptly prevent risks.
Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Xuan Co expressed concern about the situation where some doctors and pharmacists take advantage of their professional reputation to introduce functional foods as part of the treatment regimen. "There are cases where patients only spend 3 VND on medicine, but spend up to 7 VND on functional foods that are not clear to be effective" - he said.
He emphasized that functional foods are not without value, but if not strictly controlled, abuse can cause patients to both bear risks and be unnecessarily costly.
Bach Mai Hospital is currently one of the few units that resolutely says no to selling functional foods at the pharmacy, and strictly handles cases of doctors violating regulations. Up to now, most doctors in Bach Mai have strictly followed this regulation - Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Xuan Co affirmed.
