The Ministry of Health has requested that localities tighten controls over beauty salons after a recent incident in which a doctor in Hanoi disposed of the body of a patient who died during cosmetic surgery.

Localities to tighten controls over beauty salons

The ministry urged local departments in many localities nationwide to cooperate with other management agencies so as to conduct a comprehensive inspection of beauty salons, focusing on the implementation of techniques, treatment methods, prescriptions, and especially surgery.

Management agencies have also been asked to conduct careful checks on beauty salons and spas to detect any violations, including false advertisements.

Viet Cuong, Chief Inspector of the Hanoi Health Department said, only 30 beauty salons and private hospitals in Hanoi were licensed for to perform cosmetic surgery out of hundreds.

He added that, despite being licensed, these salons are only allowed to conduct certain types of surgery, for example an eyelid cut, eyebrow or lip tattooing. But they are not allowed to do more complicated surgeries, such as breast augmentation or removal of fat.

The public, as well as other doctors, voiced outrage when Doctor Nguyen Manh Tuong from Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi tried to conceal a woman's body named after she died at his beauty salon.

On October 22, the police in Hanoi arrested Dr. Nguyen Manh Tuong, the owner of Cat Tuong Beauty Salon on Giai Phong Street.

Her family has been actively trying to retrieve her body from the river.