Hoai Duc General Hospital in Hanoi's Hoai Duc District has been denounced for duplicating 1,000 blood test results for around 2,000 patients.

Hoai Duc General Hospital. Photo by Dtinews

The test results were given to patients between July, 2012 and May, 2013, according to medical files recorded at the hospital following a report by Vietnam Television (VTV).

Each test result was used for between 2-5 patients.

For instance, indicators listed in the blood test results of a 22-month-old child were the same as the results of a 65-year-old patient.

A 68-year-old patient with high blood pressure also shared the same results as a 41-year-old patient who was suffering from an arm injury.

The case was brought to light following a letter from Doctor Hoang Thi Nguyet who had worked for more than 20 years in the hospital laboratory, according to VTV.

The letter stated that the hospital's director, Nguyen Tri Liem, allowed unprofessional health workers to conduct blood tests who threw blood samples and duplicated results from previous patients, according to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

These workers were in charge of testing between 200-300 patients each day.

Health experts said blood tests played an important role in disease diagnosis and treatment.

Doctor Ngo Manh Quan from the Hanoi-based National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion was quoted by Lao Dong (Labour) Newspaper as saying that tests, including blood and urine tests, served as the first basic foundation of assessing a patient's health.

The test results would help doctors to diagnose different diseases such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis or diabetes, he said, adding that it was unacceptable to use test result from one patient for another.

A team from the Health Ministry and the Hanoi Health Department met with hospital leaders to discuss the case on Tuesday.

During the meeting, six health workers from the hospital allegedly admitted malpractice, according to deputy director of the ministry's Medical Services Administration Nguyen Trong Khoa.

However, head of the hospital laboratory Vuong Thi Kim Thanh said they often provided incorrect test results for relatives of health workers to help them complete their medical records quickly, according to Tuoi Tre.

Head of the Vietnam Social Insurance Department of Health Insurance Policy Implementation Pham Luong Son told the newspaper that the main aim of their actions was to squeeze money out of the health insurance fund.

"The hospital would gain a huge amount of money paid for blood work by duplicating results for different patients," he said.

A research conducted by Tuoi Tre showed that most of patients involved were health insurance holders.

Director of Hoai Duc District's Social Insurance Fund Nguyen Mai Hong said payment for blood tests carried out by the hospital in the first half of this year had been temporarily suspended pending further investigations.

The hospital receives between VND600-700 million (US$28,500-33,000) for blood work from the district's Social Insurance Fund each month.

Hanoi police are investigating the case. The police yesterday said those responsible would be prosecuted under the Article 281 of the Penal Code.

The hospital board yesterday suspended Vuong Thi Kim Thanh as head of the hospital's laboratory and Phan Thi Oanh as chief technician.

Chief Inspector Nguyen Viet Cuong of the Hanoi Health Department yesterday said inspectors had visited the hospital in May after receiving news of the situation. Inspectors had discovered evidence of the claims, but were waiting on the final police report, he said.