Chairwoman of the NA Committee for Social Affairs, Truong Thi Mai, said the death of a woman at a doctor's beauty salon in Hanoi is due to lax management by the health sector. She later spoke with a reporter from DTiNews.
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Cat Tuong Beauty Salon in Hanoi was in operation for six months, even though it never got a license from the Department of Health. Meanwhile, Bach Mai Hospital, where the owner worked, was also unaware of his salon. Mai affirmed that if there's one lesson to be learned from this case, it's that tighter management at all levels of the Health Sector is required. The management agencies must carry out frequent inspections and shut down any facilities which violate the regulations, immediately.
Dr. Tuong, owner of the salon, was in the department of orthopedics at Bach Mai Hospital, but he worked as a plastic surgeon at his clinic. Do you think there's a loophole in our management mechanism?
Hospitals must tighten their controls over employees, and we need more regulations to cover doctors who want to open private clinics. Moreover, it's also a way to prevent negative phenomena, such as rumours that doctors often take hospital patients to their private clinics.
That's why we need an improved supervisory system. Now our job is to re-check all the clinics to find out if there are any doctors working in non-specialised fields.
On Giai Phong Street, there are many private clinics owned by doctors from Bach Mai Hospital. Cat Tuong Beauty Salon even has a website but the Department of Health didn't know about it. What exactly is wrong with the system?
The management agencies must take the responsibility for establishing whether or not a salon is licensed. Obviously the system has problems if an unlicensed salon was in operation for so long. That's why we always say that proper management is the Health Sector's top priority.
How about individual responsibility? People complained that they haven't seen any punishment or dismissal of ineffective inspectors or anyone higher up at the department of health---the chairman, for instance.
Now we've been forced to revise all procedures, but in reality, several leaders, from all departments, not just the health sector, have already been dismissed or demoted if their actions caused harmful consequences.
Each instance of violation in the health sector seems to get worse as time goes by. As a result, people have started to question overall medical ethics. Do you think we need more inspections ?
The Ministry of Health should have a tighter grip on ethics, judgments and punishments throughout the business of medical practice, or else, we'll lose public confidence. The NA Committee for Social Affairs asked the Minister of Health to try very hard to keep every promise she's made regarding reforms, in order to unite and improve the health sector.
The sector has thousands of passionate doctors who help millions of people each year, but just one case like this can do irreparable damage to the sector's credibility. That's why we must try harder to regain public trust.
