VietNamNet Bridge – The HCM City Department of Health will continue to carry out inspections on the use of foreign doctors at private health clinics and illegal touts outside hospitals.

Cosmetic centres in the city will also be inspected until the end of this month.

The department will check dental centres and health clinics located near large hospitals, including Cho Ray Hospital, University Medical Centre and Hospital of Dermatology and Venereology.

According to Dr. Bui Minh Trang, chief of the city Health Department's inspector, no private health clinics in the city have registered to use foreign doctors.

Under the regulation, foreign doctors who want to work in private health clinics in Viet Nam have to have a practising licence issued by the Ministry of Health.

However, the department still has discovered that foreign doctors are working at many health clinics.

Two private health clinics including Hiep Hoa in Tan Binh District and Apollo in District 1 use Chinese doctors that do not have a licence to practise.

They also have used drugs that are not allowed in Viet Nam and have posted false advertising.

Authorities withdrew licences and imposed fines on the clinics. The Chinese doctors have also been deported.

Trang said that he and his colleagues had faced difficulties in inspection at private health clinics, especially ones that use foreign doctors illegally.

Most of the information about the clinics had been found in the media, he added.

Some TV channels had aired false advertising claims from these clinics, Trang said, adding that these adverts had attracted more clients.

Source: VNS