Local experts have warned that people should not believe in the results of online cancer detection kits.
A quick cancer kit
The brand names and prices of the kit are varied but all claim to have high accuracy and short waiting time.
A seller nicknamed Huyken said his kits, Medi USA, were made in the US and the accuracy rate was 99.5 percent. Users need to collect 5ml of urine or blood samples and wait for only five to ten minutes for the result. Another seller with nickname Sero-check said he sold one kit for just VND10,000 and would give huge discount for who buy more than one.
Owner of a small drug store on Hanoi's Giap Bat Street claimed that his Tyrosine Urine detecting Kits were tested by China's Health Department and were recommended at various medical facilities. They claim the kit can detect a wide range of cancers as well as some other illnesses and costs VND1m (USD45) per kit.
A customer in Hanoi said she bought two different kits and received two different results. "A kit that is said to be from the US showed that I was positive with gastric cancer and a kit from India showed negative results. I had to go to hospital and luckily, it was just gastritis," she said.
Dr. Nguyen Quang Thai from the National Cancer Institute said there were different tests needed to detect different cancers so people should not trust any quick cancer kits which had no concrete scientific research to support its technology.
