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Around two weeks ago, inspectors from the Ho Chi Minh City Health Department conducted a probe of a clinic in Tan Binh District run by Trieu Thi Thai, a doctor of Eastern medicine.
According to some patients, Thai boasts that she can cure chronic diseases, including forms of cancer, within 100 days at a cost of VND300 million (US$17,800).
Although the clinic was granted a license from the health department solely to apply Eastern medicine for treatments, inspectors found hundreds of injection shots of painkillers like Lidocain and Gentamycin, and tonics such as Vitamin B12 and B Complex - most of which have been expired since last August.
When health officials arrived on the premise, Thai initially refused to allow them to conduct the probe until local police were recruited to the scene. The doctor then claimed that the Western drugs were for personal usage rather than for patients' sales. As her house was narrow, she had to store the drugs in the clinic space.
Some patients said Thai counseled them to take tiger marrow and bear bile as substances that would help to treat cancers of the breast, lung and stomach, as well as chronic diseases like acute sinusitis, diabetes and hepatitis B without having to undergo operations. Thai sold what she claimed to be real bear bile and tiger marrow at a sum of VND48 million ($2,900) for each bile portion and VND9 million ($534) for a gram of marrow. She also told patients to visit her clinic for special treatments like acupuncture and injections of some unknown drugs at a cost of VND400,000 ($24) per visit.
According to Thai, her treatment methods would make benign tumors disappear and prevent malignant ones from metastasizing. Tran Van Nam, deputy head of the HCMC Hospital of Traditional Medicine, said there are no studies that say bear bile and tiger marrow can cure cancers and chronic diseases, while treatments with painkillers like Lidocain and Novocain, if overused, can cause addiction.
Vietnamese laws ban doctors from selling drugs to patients.
Health inspectors have submitted a report to the department, which will assess the violations and impose penalties on Thai.
Dubious eye treatments
Last week, inspectors from Hanoi's Health Department revisited a private clinic managed by an eye doctor, Vu Thi Thoa, and her husband Hoang Van Tien. The clinic in Cau Giay District previously had been penalized two times for providing eye treatments that had not been sanctioned by relevant authorities.
The treatment to cure myopia conducted by Thoa involved massaging around the eyes for 50-70 circles, 10 times per day. Thoa also told patients to try to focus on objects about five meters away in 30-minute intervals from two to four times daily.
The two doctors told patients that their shortsightedness would be cured after a period of time applying these treatments. Patients said the fee for each visit ranged from VND150,000-300,000 ($9-18). Nguyen Viet Cuong, chief inspector of the department, said the clinic was only licensed to provide optical checks and treatments for common optical diseases.
Despite previous penalties and warnings from the department, the clinic continues to administer unsanctioned treatments for patients.The methods that Thoa claimed could completely cure myopia were neither allowed nor verified to have any effects on patients, Cuong said.
Dr. Do Nhu Hon, head of the Central Eye Hospital in Hanoi, confirmed that the retinas of nearsighted people could easily peel off, and thus these individuals should minimize contact with areas around their eyes. Hon said the massaging method applied at Thoa's clinic could cause further damage to the retina area, while the measure to focus on faraway objects is only useful for preventing myopia and wouldn't help people who are already nearsighted.
The Agency for Science and Training under the Ministry of Health, which is in charge of verifying and sanctioning the application of new medical treatments, said it has never received any application from Thoa to use such methods at her clinic.
So far, no assessments on the safety and effectiveness of the methods are available, said representatives from the agency. Many patients complained their shortsightedness grew worse after applying the abovementioned methods.
Pham Van Cuong of Tay Ho District said after three months of applying the treatments, his son's myopic degree increased by 0.5. Nineteen-year-old Le Quynh Van said her eyesight has remained at 4/10 since she started the treatments at Thoa's clinic last year. Thoa is an eye doctor at Hospital 198 and Tien is a doctor specializing in hygiene and epidemiology.
Source: Tuoi Tre
July 2, 2008
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