Representatives from the Cultural and Social Affairs Committee of the Da Nang People’s Council and the municipal Department of Health recently met to collect further information about the dealings of the US company Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc (Bio-Rad) in Viet Nam.  The firm is a global provider of life science research and clinical diagnostic products.

The move came after the US Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 3 concluded that Bio-Rad had paid 2.2 million USD in bribes to Vietnamese health officials in return for contracts to provide medical equipment and chemicals to hospitals across Viet Nam between 2005 and 2009.

The Director of the Health Department, Doctor Pham Hung Chien, said that a polymerase chain reaction machine and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) machine, both of which were produced by Bio-Rad, are now being used at the Da Nang General Hospital.  Doctor Chien, however, affirmed that the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and the Central Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion in Ha Noi supplied these machines to the hospital.

Also at the meeting, representatives of the Department answered some questions raised by the Committee about issues relating to medical waste treatment, the establishment of the Oncology Department at the Da Nang Maternity and Paediatrics Hospital, and patient overload at some local hospitals.

The past 10 months of this year have seen a slight decrease in the number of dengue fever and hand, foot and mouth (HFM) cases, but an increase of measles and chickenpox cases against the same period last year.  A total of 5 dengue fever, 40 HFM, 5 measles and 20 chickenpox cases on average has been reported in the city each week.