Deputy health minister resigns citing personal reasons

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son, who has been undergoing treatment for cancer, has resigned from his position effective November 1.

Nguyen Truong Son, 58, is an associate professor and doctor of medicine. According to current regulations on the retirement age, Son was to retire by 2025.

However, Son has applied to step down three times, the latest in June, citing work pressure and his undergoing treatment for cancer. He underwent a surgery at the Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City recently, and it has been reported that it was successful.

Before becoming the Deputy Minister of Health, Son had worked in the medical sector for more than 30 years, more than 16 years as a doctor with the department of hematology and blood transfusion at the Cho Ray Hospital.

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

Son is highly regarded and appreciated for making many contributions to the Vietnamese health sector and Cho Ray Hospital in promoting advanced technologies and treatments including organ transplants, and for supporting poor patients.

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

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 on June 4 that Viet A earned up to VND4,000 billion ($172.47 million) illicitly, of which VND800 billion was spent on bribes.

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