The Office of the Central Steering Committee
for Anti-corruption, said that the agency has received complaints from eight
pharma firms in HCM City about the chief of the Vietnam Drug Administration,
Truong Quoc Cuong.
The eight firms include: Imexpharm, Stada
Vietnam, S.Pharm, Agimexpharm, Tipharco, Pymerpharco, Minh Hai Company and
Khanh Hoa Pharma Company.
The Central Steering Committee for
Anti-corruption met with the eight companies, Cuong and inspectors of the
Ministry of Health. However, details will not be disclosed until the committee
makes official conclusion about the case.
In their denouncements, the eight firms
accused Cuong of breaking the rules in granting medicine circulation licenses,
drug import licenses and favoring foreign firms.
They denounced that Cuong permitted BV Pharma
to import several tons of pseudoephedrine to produce influenza medicine. This
company was licensed very quickly, only 1-2 days after it submitted
documentation.
The firms also presented evidences that Cuong
made mistake in management task. Specifically, the Ministry of Health
instructed the Vietnam Drug Administration to stop licensing firms to register,
import materials and produce medicines with sabutramine, which was warned by
the World Health Organization as being harmful to health, but Cuong permitted
medicines containing sabutramine to be in circulation until the expiration date
of medicines.
Speaking to Tuoi Tre Daily, Tran Thi Dao,
General Director of Imexpharm, said that Cuong’s mistake has affected prestige
and development of the pharma industry.
Dao confirmed that the eight pharma firms are
willing to “sacrifice”, because until now, they are the first that dare to
raise their voice over state agencies, specifically the Vietnam Drug
Administration. Dao also stated that these companies would pursue struggling
though they knew that it is “difficult”.
Before this scandal broke out, the public had
been heat up by information about Deputy Minister of Health, Cao Minh Quang (in
charge of pharmaceutical area), who was accused of borrowing money from some
pharma firms, making false statement of his qualifications, age and bullying
his inferiors.
PV
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