Regarding the case of the police of Thanh Hoa province, "destroying the production and trading of fake western medicine on a large scale nationwide, arresting 14 subjects on the crime of producing and trading fake goods as preventive medicine and medicine", the Ministry of Health has sent a quick document to the Department of Health of Thanh Hoa province proposing information, coordinating closely with the police to strictly exploit the illegal subjects to the subjects and to handle the violations of the subjects and to handle the violations of the subjects and the subjects of the illegal violations has launched.
On the afternoon of April 17, Dr. Ta Manh Hung, Deputy Director of the Drug Administration of Vietnam (Ministry of Health), said that among 21 types of products that were arrested by police authorities, there were 04 types of western medicine (44 boxes of Tetracyclin, 40 boxes of chlorocids, 49 boxes of phaboter, 52 boxes of Neo-Codion); The remaining is 39,323 boxes including 17 types of fake products suspected of traditional medicine, products with labels with the purpose of use as medicine.
Currently, fake drug products discovered in Thanh Hoa at medical examination and treatment facilities have not been detected; products forged by the subjects cannot be penetrated into the system of public hospitals due to lack of documents and certificates to participate in bidding. These fake products are mainly sold online; on retail channels.
"The fake drug is not granted circulation, cannot participate in the regular bidding system. The subjects think of the name of the drug, fabricate the origin, and mix it into the market and the small distribution channels.
Dr. Hung added that the Ministry of Health has issued many documents directing the People's Committees of the provinces, the Department of Health and the relevant units to strengthen the inspection and supervision of drug quality; At the same time, closely coordinate with functional forces in the prevention of fake drugs and unknown drugs. Every year, the Central Institute of Drug Testing and Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Drug Testing strictly monitor the quality of the drug. Each year, about 38,000 - 40,000 samples are taken to check the probability, focusing on high -risk groups that are fake or quality change. The percentage of fake drugs in the market in recent years is very low, less than 0.1%. However, in the period 2023 - 2024, some localities such as Thanh Hoa, Ha Nam, Hanoi have discovered fake drugs such as tetracyclin, chlorocid, pharcoter, Neo -Codion. Shortly thereafter, the Ministry of Health promptly directed the local health departments to coordinate with the Steering Committee 389, the police and the market management to investigate and handle in accordance with the law.
On January 9, 2025, the Ministry of Health (Drug Administration of Drugs and Inspectorate) collaborated with the Police Department to investigate economic crime and corruption (C03), the Department of Internal Political Security (A03) the Ministry of Public Security held a meeting with the Department of Health of the provinces such as Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Ha Nam ... to strengthen the prevention and control of fake drugs and unknown drugs.
At the meeting, the units agreed to continue to promote supervision, combat and strictly handle violations in the coming time. In that spirit, the authorities have promptly taken action, investigated and strictly handled the discovered cases.
Dr. Hung added that each type of drug, from licensing to circulation, must comply with good practice standards. However, people have not yet proactively looked up drug information on the National Pharmaceutical Information Portal to know which drugs are licensed, thereby avoiding fake drugs. In the coming time, the Ministry of Health, the Department of Health, along with market management forces and the police need to coordinate closely to promptly detect and handle acts of trading in counterfeit drugs and drugs of unknown origin. This is not only a task, but a responsibility to protect people's health.
According to the Ministry of Health, in 2024, the rate of substandard drug samples will be 0.53% and counterfeit drugs will be 0.06% - low compared to the region. The Central Institute for Drug Testing said it had discovered 23 samples suspected to be fake drugs out of a total of more than 40,000 samples tested.
However, the figure of 0.06% is calculated on the number of samples taken, while the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market is worth about 7 billion USD/year and grows at double digits per year, showing that the number of monitored samples has not kept up with the market size.
In fact, in just one recent case, Thanh Hoa Provincial Police discovered nearly 10 tons of fake drugs and functional foods, including many popular new drugs such as Tetracyclin, Clorocid, Pharcoter and neo-Codion.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the rate of fake drugs in developing countries to be up to 10%. Compared to the figure of 0.06% recorded by the Ministry of Health, it can be seen that there is a large gap between monitoring and actual data.
Looking at fake drug rings that have only been discovered after many years of operation, there is reason to worry that there are still many fake products floating on the market, posing a potential risk to people.
