Hoang Thi Nguyet, a 47-year-old medical tester at Hoai Duc General
Hospital, after being honoured by authorities in August for uncovering
technicians giving duplicate blood test results to more than 2,000 patients
over a 10-month period. The scandal was one of the biggest to make headlines
this year.
VietNamNet Bridge – Few things could have prepared Hoang Thi Nguyet for being caught at the
center of one of the biggest scandals to rock the nation's health sector this
year.
Back in
August, the 47-year-old medical staffer at Hoai Duc General Hospital became the
chief whistle-blower of a major medical cover-up at the suburban hospital,
where technicians had replicated around 1,149 blood test results over a
10-month period. The copied records were then distributed to around 2,000
patients.
The
scandal has sparked a nationwide outcry from angry patients furious over being
given inaccurate health information and being charged for unnecessary medical
tests, as was revealed by police findings.
For
Nguyet, the road to revealing the truth was not easy. It was a long journey
where she and her colleagues had to overcome intense pressure to bring the
gross misconduct to the public's attention.
"I
was scared but I was determined to denounce the wrong-doers," Nguyet
recalled recently in an interview at 19-8 Hospital in Cau Giay District, where
she's now studying further into medical testing. "But I knew I did not do
anything wrong. I was not afraid of losing my job."
The
misconduct traces back to around July 2012. According to Nguyet, at the time,
the medical testing unit at Hoai Duc Hospital was divided into two sections.
Nguyet and some of her senior colleagues were prohibited from being involved in
the daily medical testing of patients.
The
ten-member testing unit had to receive between 200 and 300 outpatients a day
and perform between 1,000-2,000 blood tests.
"Suddenly
we were not allowed to do our job and this created suspicion," Nguyet
said.
"And
all of our normal duties were performed by temporary staff who are mostly
recent graduates. Somehow, they were managing to return results to patients
only an hour later. We knew it was impossible."
She and
another colleague were determined to find out the truth, noticing even that
some of the blood samples were being discarded and patients given duplicate
results despite their differing ages and conditions.
For
several days, the two secretly recorded the process of technicians not
following proper medical procedures and spent months checking the record to
make sure that they collected the right evidence.
"We
knew they would duplicate the results not in any pattern so it took many days
to figure them out," she said, adding: "it was very tiring".
At
first, Nguyet said she and some of her senior colleagues did not immediately
want to turn in the evidence to the media and authorities.
"We
knew the general director of the hospital was complicit in this and it was
difficult to make him take responsibility for this," she said. "We
tried asking the staff to correct the procedure but no one listened. I knew I
had to take it further."
Eventually,
some of her colleagues agreed to sign the 18-page letter accusing the general
director of the hospital Nguyen Tri Liem and other staff members of
intentionally violating medical practices. The group notified health
authorities and the police.
"I
was grateful that media involvement helped speed up the case. Before the media
knew about this, we waited and waited in vain," Nguyet said.
Khuat
Thi Dinh, another colleague at the hospital who also followed the case and
signed the letter, said it took a lot of courage for a typical staff member
like Nguyet to do that.
"She
is an extremely determined person. When this ordeal became too stressful, we
often asked whether we, a bunch of female staff, were doing the right
thing," Dinh said.
One of
Nguyet's colleagues even had to withdraw her signature due to pressure from
family members who felt that she would be in danger. Stress also came from
threats from the former general director, who was later removed from the post,
and possible reprisals.
Following
investigations, 10 people were prosecuted in the case, including the general
director, in August. Authorities also rewarded Nguyet and two other persons in
her team each VND320,000 (US$15) plus a certificate of merit from the health
department of Ha Noi.
The
patients who received falsified results were also offered free checkups, while
the case has also prompted discussion at top-level meetings about the need to
protect whistleblowers in corruption cases.
Nguyet
said she had not been motivated by financial rewards, but felt she had helped
improve medical testing across the country. The case has even received
attention from National Assembly deputies and the Prime Minister.
Now,
she is referred to as Nguyet Hoai Duc, named after the hospital.
"People
who work in medical testing told me that after this, they were ordered by their
respective hospitals to follow stricter procedures," she said.
"Hearing
that, I felt my hard work had paid off."
Source:
VNS
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