Minister of Health: It is necessary to form a culture against counterfeit goods

Hospitals worry about fake drugs and fake food entering the hospital

At the national online conference on evaluating the peak period against smuggling, trade frauds and fake goods in the health sector organized by the Ministry of Health on the morning of May 23, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Minh Dien - Director of National Hospital of Pediatrics said: The drug is an extremely important issue in hospitals, functional foods, external topicals, shower gel, milk ...

According to Associate Professor Dien, we are extremely worried about purchasing thousands of billions of VND in medicine every year. If there are still counterfeit goods, counterfeit goods, or units providing dishonest data... then medical facilities will easily become victims. Unfortunately, those counterfeit and counterfeit products have reached the hands of patients and children, causing great impact.

"We hope to have the best and safest products to serve the medical examination and treatment process for children" - he emphasized.

Proposing solutions to ensure the quality of drugs, functional foods, and products entering hospitals, Associate Professor Dien said: "First of all, it is necessary to promote the application of information technology, so that medical facilities can easily look up and update information on functional foods, cosmetics, milk products... that are announced or have their announcements revoked. Next, when recalling products, recalling product declaration numbers... there must be instructions on how to recall and handle them appropriately".

It is necessary to launch a mass movement to denounce crimes against counterfeit and smuggled goods

At the conference, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan also said that it is necessary to propose solutions to apply information technology in tracing the origin, managing goods data and detecting violations.

According to Ms. Lan, the Ministry of Public Security has deployed a national database, if it coordinates well, it will avoid establishments producing counterfeit and fake goods on the market. Because tracing goods can help people know whether the facility has been granted a certificate and manufactured in accordance with regulations or not. This also creates trust for the people.

The Minister of Health also said that counterfeit goods prevention must be "taken place all year round" and not only take place during peak months and then "not make a profit".

"Requesting localities to launch a mass movement to denounce crimes against counterfeit and smuggled goods. Authorities cannot be on duty 24/7, but people can be there everywhere. How to form a culture against counterfeit goods", Ms. Lan said.

According to the Ministry of Health, from 2020 to May 2025, more than 400 food establishments were inspected, 198 establishments violated with a total fine of nearly 24 billion VND. In 2024 alone, the health sector organized nearly 260 inspection teams and issued 46 decisions on administrative sanctions in the pharmaceutical sector with a total amount of over 2.5 billion VND.

The Ministry of Health strengthens inter-sectoral coordination, signs coordination regulations with the Ministry of Public Security to investigate and handle 31 cases related to fake functional foods, banned substances, and fake documents.

However, the Ministry of Health also recognizes difficulties such as increasingly sophisticated counterfeiting technology, modern technology being exploited to produce counterfeit goods; online business activities have not been effectively controlled; inspection and testing at the grassroots level are still limited due to lack of human resources and equipment.

In the coming time, the Ministry of Health will complete the legal framework, tighten control of registration, advertising, circulation and traceability of products, and increase the penalty level to deter.