As the issue of patients buying fake milk within hospitals surfaces, VietNamNet readers have voiced outrage.

Duy Nguyen commented: “Only parents can truly understand the outrage. Newborns and the ill are the ones suffering. Hospitals and bidding units must be held accountable. Surely, bid evaluations must include criteria for origin, certification, and quality control?”

Reader Nguyen Viet Trung added: “It’s disheartening that from major city hospitals to provincial ones, fake milk could infiltrate procurement. Has anyone tallied how many patients consumed it or what health risks they faced?”

Thanh Huong, another reader, posed the question: Are hospitals accomplices or victims?

According to Pham Van Hoc, Chairman of Hung Vuong General Hospital (Phu Tho), everyone - from celebrities and doctors promoting these products to hospitals and end-users - has been misled by the counterfeit supply chain.

Hospitals, he argued, relied on the licenses and regulatory compliance of products legally available in the market. However, if a doctor prescribes milk as if it were medicine, that is a violation. By regulation, physicians may only prescribe medication, while dietary supplements may only be suggested - not prescribed.

Hoc explained that in critical conditions such as brain surgeries, major operations, or cancer treatments, patients often require high-energy nutritional supplements. In such cases, doctors assess which product is most suitable for medical use.

 “What remains unclear,” Hoc continued, “is whether regulatory authorities have conducted post-market testing in the past four years. We need fairness here. Whoever is at fault must be held accountable - be it hospitals or doctors - but they too have been victims.”

On the question of hidden profits behind counterfeit milk sales, Hoc denied any such motives. Nevertheless, he suggested hospitals should only sell milk products through canteens, where customers can freely choose without implication of medical endorsement.

A central hospital director in Hanoi echoed these sentiments, stating that neither patients nor medical staff are equipped to detect counterfeit milk or medication - that responsibility lies with regulatory bodies. While medical staff may recommend nutritional products that benefit recovery, such recommendations become problematic if the product is later exposed as fake. All these products, he noted, passed standard documentation checks, so hospitals had no means to reject them outright.

The risk of spending more on supplements than medicine

Associate Professor Dao Xuan Co, Director of Bach Mai Hospital, emphasized the importance of strict screening for all medications entering the hospital. Every drug must go through rigorous bidding procedures and have clearly documented origins.

While nutritional supplements do have their place, Co warned that overuse or poor regulation can burden patients financially and expose them to health risks.

He cautioned against scenarios where “patients spend three parts on medicine, but seven parts on supplements of questionable value.”

Bach Mai Hospital ceased all in-hospital sales of dietary supplements three years ago. The facility now strictly prohibits any form of supplement prescription or indirect promotion, even outside its premises.

To date, Bach Mai Hospital has not detected any counterfeit milk or medication entering its treatment system. Nevertheless, it has proactively reviewed its supply chains and internal pharmacies to ensure absolute patient safety. The hospital also urged the public to report any suspicions promptly to help prevent potential harm.

Phuong Thuy