Vietnam Health Deputy Minister Suspended Amid Bribery Allegations

Tran Van Thuan, Deputy Minister of Health and Chairman of the National Medical Council, has been suspended from his duties by the Prime Minister until a decision is made by the competent authorities. The decision to suspend Mr. Thuan was announced on September 6, four days after he was detained. Previously, on September 2, Mr. Thuan was prosecuted and detained by the Investigation Agency for Corruption, Economic Crimes, and Smuggling (C03) under the Ministry of Public Security for the crime of receiving bribes. In a case that occurred at Viet My Medical Investment Joint Stock Company over a month ago, C03 had prosecuted and detained Bui Chan Phuong, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Viet My Medical Investment Company, along with two subordinates, Ha Van Nam, Director, and Tran Thi Hong Hanh, head of accounting, for investigation into charges of smuggling and violating accounting regulations, causing serious consequences. Viet My Medical Investment Company, established in 2007, was 90% owned by Mr. Phuong. According to public bidding data, from 2018 to the present, the enterprise has won hundreds of bidding packages with a total value of thousands of billions of VND. C03 has initially determined that Mr. Phuong established and operated businesses in Vietnam, Singapore, and Hong Kong to buy, sell, and inflate the prices of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals before importing them into Vietnam. A large portion of the goods were overpriced before being sold to domestic healthcare facilities, thereby illegally profiting, causing budget losses, and affecting the rights of patients. C03 alleges that during the import of medical equipment, Mr. Phuong also exploited import permits granted by the Ministry of Health for genuine equipment to declare accompanying equipment, thereby illegally bringing other equipment into Vietnam. Mr. Thuan, 56, is a professor of medicine and holds a doctorate in oncology. He is one of Vietnam's leading oncology experts, with over 20 years of clinical experience before transitioning to management. He worked for many years at K Hospital and the National Cancer Research Institute before becoming Director of K Hospital in 2016. He also served as Director of the National Cancer Institute; Chairman of the Vietnam Young Physicians Association; and Director of the "Brighter Tomorrow" Fund for Cancer Patients. Since April 2020, he has held the position of Deputy Minister of Health and Chairman of the National Medical Council. According to the allocation of responsibilities by the Minister of Health in October 2025, Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan was directly in charge of outpatient and inpatient treatment; rehabilitation; medical and forensic examination; forensic psychiatry; blood transfusion safety; application and development of new techniques in examination and treatment; and donation and transplantation of human tissues and organs. He was also assigned to direct the protection and care of the health of central officials; medical activities for major Party and State conferences; international cooperation in health; direction of the National Medical Council's activities; and coordination with the Vietnam Red Cross Central Committee.