Deputy health minister quits amid Covid test kit scam

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son has submitted his resignation letter to authorities, the Ministry of Health stated Tuesday.

Son signed a certificate in 2021 allowing Covid-19 test kits provided by Viet A Company to be circulated across the country.

Phan Quoc Viet, CEO of Viet A Company, was arrested by police in December 2021. He then admitted he had inflated the price of a Covid-19 test kit by 45% and paid huge bribes to corporate partners and leaders of provincial and city centers for disease control nationwide, asking them to distribute and use Covid-19 test kits provided by his company.

Lieutenant General To An Xo, chief of staff and spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security, told a government meeting Saturday that Viet A earned up to VND4,000 billion ($172.47 million) illicitly, of which VND800 billion was spent on bribes.

Last year, Deputy Minister Son was disciplined twice, with reprimands and warnings, for signing the certificate.

Son was promoted to the position of Deputy Minister of Health in 2018 from the post of Director of Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, which provides top-quality healthcare services and treatments to patients in southern Vietnam.

He has been highly appreciated for many contributions to the Vietnamese health sector and Cho Ray Hospital in developing high technologies and organ transplants, while supporting poor patients.

In the position of Deputy Minister of Health, Son was present at all Covid-19 epidemic hotspots in Vietnam during the 2020-2021 period. He also served as head of the Ministry of Health standing committees for pandemic preparedness in Bac Giang province, Danang, and Ho Chi Minh City.