This morning (8.21), the Committee on Culture and Society coordinated with the Committee on Science, Technology and Environment, the Committee for Petition and Supervision of the National Assembly to organize a session to explain the implementation of legal policies on the prevention of fake drugs and fake foods.
Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Society Nguyen Dac Vinh said that the production and trading of fake drugs and fake foods is not only an problem of a single country but a global problem, an increasingly complex development with many extremely sophisticated methods and tricks.
Recently, in Vietnam, consecutive cases of the production and sale of fake drugs and fake foods have been discovered, handled, prosecuted by authorities, and condemned by public opinion.
According to Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh, fake drugs and fake foods cause harmful effects and dangerous consequences for health, economy and other social aspects such as reducing treatment effectiveness, directly harming the health and lives of consumers; causing economic damage, eroding social trust, reducing the reputation of genuine businesses, and posing a potential risk of disorder and social safety.
Therefore, the Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Society said that the explanation session was organized to assess the current situation of production, trading, and circulation of counterfeit drugs and fake foods; assess the achieved results, difficulties, limitations, and causes of difficulties and limitations.
On that basis, the authorities will propose and recommend solutions to fight against fake drugs and fake foods, prevent the circulation, advertising, production and trading of fake drugs and fake foods and effectively organize implementation, day this problem back.
The report of the Ministry of Health sent to the Committee for Culture and Social Affairs shows that there have been recent cases of the production and trading of fake drugs discovered and destroyed by authorities, typically the fake antibiotic production and trading ring in Hanoi, Can Tho, Ben Tre (August 2024) and the fake drug and health protection food ring in many areas (April 2025).
The report stated that the crime related to fake drugs was discovered in Vietnam due to a number of reasons such as the high demand for drugs for medical examination and treatment, especially after the COVID-19 epidemic.
At the same time, profits in the production and trading of fake drugs are high; printing and packaging technology, the development of e-commerce. In particular, e-commerce is also one of the favorable premises for drugs in particular and goods in general to be more counterfeit.
Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said that e-commerce and social networks (Zalo, Facebook, YouTube) are the main channels for the consumption of fake drugs. In particular, taking advantage of the psychology of consumers who want to buy cheap drugs and self-treat.
The health sector's counterfeit drug prevention work is quite thin, both at the central and local levels; although testing centers in localities have been invested in, most of these have not met requirements.
The Ministry of Health recommends continuing to pay attention to directing the work of preventing fake drugs, considering this a political task that needs to be vigorously and continuously implemented by the entire political system.
Strengthen Supreme Supervision and thematic supervision of the responsibilities of ministries, branches and localities. Issue a Resolution to encourage the application of digital technology and build a national database on fake drugs and foods.
