Vietnam investigators propose prosecuting former Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien

Vietnamese investigators have recommended prosecuting former Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien over alleged violations linked to two long-delayed hospital projects that they say caused losses of VND803.7 billion ($30.86 million).

The Ministry of Public Security’s Department for Corruption, Smuggling and Economic Crime Investigation, known as C03, said it has proposed charging Tien with violating regulations on the management and use of state assets causing loss and waste, under Article 219 of the penal code.

Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, 67, was expelled from the Communist Party in last July.

The case centers on the second campuses of Bach Mai Hospital and Viet Duc Hospital, both launched in 2015 in what was then Ha Nam province (now part of Ninh Binh province) to ease overcrowding at their main facilities in Hanoi. Each project was designed to have 1,000 beds.

Despite total investment running into trillions of Vietnamese dong (VND1 trillion = $38.4 million), construction was halted in January 2021 and the facilities have remained unused for nearly a decade, with several structures deteriorating.

Investigators said the alleged violations by Tien and others resulted in state asset losses of about VND803.7 billion ($30.86 million).

C03 has also recommended prosecuting Dao Xuan Sinh, director of SHT Consulting, Investment and Construction JSC, along with several officials from the ministry’s key medical projects management board, on the same charge. Le Thanh Thiem, director of Sao Nam Song Hong Co Ltd, is accused of fraud.

Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, a medical doctor and former head of the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, served as health minister from 2011 to 2019. She was a member of the Party Central Committee in the 10th (alternate) and 11th terms and a delegate to the 13th National Assembly.

During the 2016-2021 government term, she was the only cabinet member who was not a Party Central Committee member.

In late March 2025, the Government Inspectorate concluded that the implementation of the two projects involved numerous violations related to bidding and construction. This led to delays of over seven years and inefficient use of resources, resulting in significant waste; and signs of budget losses of approximately VND1,253 billion ($48.11 million).

According to the Inspectorate, the Minister of Health and the Deputy Minister in charge at that time committed violations in approving the policy of recruiting foreign consultants to develop and design the project without sufficient basis and failing to meet the necessary conditions; issuing illegal directives regarding the foreign consulting firm to carry out the project development consulting packages; and showing irresponsibility, lax management and failure to supervise and inspect as well as failure to fully perform other duties and powers of the investment decision-maker.