The upscale French-Vietnam Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, popularly known as FV Hospital, on September 11 issued a press release stating disagreement with conclusions reached by the Department of Health as to the cause of death of a patient under treated at the hospital.
Jean Marcel Guillon, the French director-general, stated his disagreement to conclusions reached by the Department of Health in HCMC, and asked them to re-evaluate.
On August 7, Mai Trung Kien, 57, was rushed to FV Hospital after he complained of pain in the chest and abdomen. Doctors at the hospital diagnosed appendicitis and performed a two-hour appendectomy.
Kien’s family said that doctors at FV Hospital tested his blood and diagnosed a heart attack. Kien was then transferred to a well-known private cardiology hospital where doctors determined that he was not suffering from a heart attack but an appendix that had burst. He was then taken back to the FV Hospital where he died.
Test results released by the Department of Health on August 29 stated that the patient had died of internal bleeding and aftershock post surgery because of negligent hospital medical staff who did not timely deal with Kien’s problem.
An official from the Department of Health said that according to the Health Law, if the hospital disagrees with the conclusions presented by the department’s scientific council, it can petition the Ministry of Health who will set up another council for further investigation.
Notably, the fact that many doctors at the hospital are practicing without valid licenses has also drawn public attention. According to health inspectors, most of the unlicensed doctors are French nationals. Even the hospital’s medical director has no valid license to practice in Vietnam.
The Department of Health in HCMC has ordered all the unlicensed doctors to stop practicing until they obtain valid permits from the local government.
