Former director of Bạch Mai Hospital jailed for five years

Defendant Nguyễn Quốc Anh, former director of the Bạch Mai Hospital, at the court. — VNA/VNS Photo Văn Điệp

HÀ NỘI — Nguyễn Quốc Anh, former director of the Bạch Mai Hospital has been jailed for five years for abusing his power and position while performing official duties.

Seven other people were also sentenced on Monday at the Hà Nội People's Court for their roles in the wrongdoings.

Nguyễn Ngọc Hiền, former deputy director, was jailed for three years six months. Trịnh Thị Thuận, the chief accountant, received three years' probation and Lý Thị Ngọc Thủy, deputy head of the Finance and Accounting Ward, two years' probation.

Phạm Đức Tuấn, former chairman of the board of directors and director of the BMS Medical Technology Joint Stock Company (BMS Company), received three years' probation. Ngô Thị Thu Huyền, former deputy director of the BMS Company, two years and six months probation. Trần Lê Hoàng, a former appraiser from the Hà Nội Valuation and Financial Services JSC (VFS) was sentenced to two years in prison and Phan Minh Dung, former director of the VFS Company, 20 months in jail.

The court was told how in the process of signing a joint venture contract at the Bạch Mai Hospital, defendant Nguyễn Quốc Anh and others took advantage of their duties and powers to violate the provisions of the law.

Defendants Trần Lê Hoàng and Phan Minh Dung evaluated the price of robotic systems for cranial nerve surgery – the Rosa Robot – at VNĐ39 billion (US$1.7 million) to allow the BMS Company to join a joint venture with Bạch Mai Hospital to install the robotic system.

Specifically, on February 20, 2017, the VFS Company issued a valuation certificate showing that Rosa Robot costs VNĐ39 billion, but three days later, this robot was imported from France for VNĐ7.4 billion ($319,000), including taxes.

The increased purchase price of the robotic system brought profits to the collective and individual defendants with Nguyễn Quốc Anh benefitting more than VNĐ331 million ($14,500).

Defendants Nguyễn Ngọc Hiền and Trịnh Thị Thuận were determined to benefit by VNĐ150 million ($6,600) and VNĐ50 million ($2,200), respectively.

The investigation showed that from February 2017 to May 2020, the Bạch Mai Hospital used Rosa Robot to perform cranial surgery for 639 cases, collecting more than VNĐ22.9 billion (US$1 million) and the hospital paid the costs related to 551 cases to the BMS Company.

According to the assessment, the cost of surgery with Robot Rosa was more than VNĐ6.6 million per case but the hospital and BMS Company charged patients more than VNĐ23 million.

The difference was more than VNĐ16.5 million ($725) per case, causing more than VNĐ10 billion ($439,700) in financial damages to the patients.

Nguyễn Quốc Anh also admitted to receiving from defendant Phạm Đức Tuấn a total of VNĐ100 million and US$10,000.

Besides the prison sentence, the court imposed an additional penalty of VNĐ100 million ($4,400) on defendant Tuấn. The remaining defendants did not receive additional penalties.

The court determined that the money the defendants received from defendant Tuấn was an illegal benefit, so it decided to expropriate the fund. — VNS