In early June 2022, Nguyen Thanh Long, then Minister of Health, was arrested along with Chu Ngoc Anh, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee. Before arresting Long, Minister of Public Security To Lam ordered the Police Investigation Agency (C03) to sweep across 63 provinces and cities nationwide, arresting many directors of CDC disease control centers. In some places, directors of the health department were also arrested, and some places arrested the provincial leaders caught for receiving bribes.
After these raids, the public health system nationwide fell into a serious shortage of drugs. Most hospitals do not dare to conduct drug bidding, for fear of being caught in violation. Hospital leaders were as afraid of police as they were of “robbers” because in many cases, medical staff thought they did the right thing but were still arrested. The reason is that the law is not clear, it can be interpreted in any way the police want. Meanwhile, the police wanted to steer the incident in an illegal direction to carry out “murder” so no one dared to do anything. In the end, the people who suffer the most are patients across the country. Patients die due to lack of medicine, or using poor quality medicine, so many that it is impossible to count.
After Dao Hong Lan became Minister of Health, she invited Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to an interdisciplinary meeting to discuss solutions. This includes adjusting the law and coordinating with the Ministry of Finance. However, the solutions are still deadlocked, because the law is the lawmaker’s business, and police only follow To Lam’s orders, not the law.
In general, in the Government, PM Chinh cannot control To Lam to synchronize policies. And as a result, after 2 years of meetings to discuss solutions, up to now, the hospital still has a serious shortage of drugs.
On March 31, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper published an article “Why do many hospitals still lack drugs and supplies?” The article points out that the reason is that the Bidding Law, although effective from January 1, 2024, has yet to have a guiding circular. This makes it difficult for medical facilities to bid and purchase drugs and medical supplies.
The new Bidding Law is the result of Chinh’s previous resolution with Lan, but why are places still hesitant and afraid to implement it? The reason is that they are afraid of To Lam’s claws, which could fall on their heads at any time. They waited for a circular instructing them to build a buoy. If they were caught by To Lam’s army, they would have a basis to justify it.
The Ministry of Public Security receives approximately VND100 trillion per year from the state budget, while the Ministry of Health receives less than VND7 trillion. The health sector is not respected in this regime. Moreover, To Lam still has the army spying day and night, paralyzing the entire sector. People die, officials have corrupt money to go to capitalist countries for medical treatment, so they don’t care.
PM Chinh’s biggest task is to manage ministries so that they coordinate with each other, so that policies are implemented smoothly. In theory, ministers are subordinates to him. However, it is different with the Ministry of Public Security. They are not “docile” to the PM. For a long time, To Lam has been following orders from the General Secretary, not the government leader.
Up to now, To Lam no longer listens to the General Secretary’s orders anymore. He acted on his own free will, because he appeared to “treason.”
If the policy is implemented synchronously according to the PM’s direction, then the government leader will receive all the credit, so when will To Lam listen? Therefore, To Lam keeps stalking people, causing the health sector to continue to be clogged. Therefore, To Lam has an advantage on the political chess board, because the PM has lost points in the Politburo because of ineffective policy management.
To Lam is fighting fiercely with PM Chinh. Down below, people are dying because of lack of medicine. It’s pitiful for the Vietnamese people to have to be citizens under a regime where officials only fight for their interests and power.
