Tonic and rheumatism medicine from Ho Chi Minh City Traditional Medicine Hospital were counterfeited

On April 15, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said that specialized units are coordinating with the police to investigate and clarify the above facility and drug counterfeiting network.

According to a report from Ho Chi Minh City Traditional Medicine Hospital, the incident was discovered when a patient brought two bottles of medicine to the hospital and asked to buy more. The patient said that he had previously examined and purchased this medicine at a private clinic. On the product packaging, the name of Ho Chi Minh City Traditional Medicine Hospital was written, so this person went to the hospital to buy more before discovering unusual signs.

The hospital confirmed that it produced Rheumatism Tablets (to treat joint diseases) and Toc Trung Dich Qi (tonic medicine), however, the two fake medicine bottles had packaging and appearance that did not match the unit’s medicine samples. The hospital collected these counterfeit drug samples and reported them to the authorities, and warned patients not to continue using fake drugs.

This is the first time the hospital has discovered counterfeit drugs like this. The hospital representative said “cannot confirm the quality of the above drugs” and “is not responsible for products not directly produced or distributed by the unit”. Using drugs of unknown origin poses many health risks.

Medicines produced by hospitals have clearly designed packaging, sharp printing, full information such as hospital name, address, production standards (GMP-WHO), and official brand identification. The pills inside are uniform and properly packaged. Meanwhile, fake drugs have simple, sketchy labels, blurry letters, poor printing quality and no hospital logo.

Hospital representatives advise people to buy medicine at official hospital facilities and not to use floating products of unknown origin. When in doubt, you should contact the pharmacy directly at 0973.788.187 for advice and verification.

Last year, Ho Chi Minh City authorities destroyed many production and trade lines of fake medicines, treating diseases such as bone and joint diseases, hemorrhoids, leprosy, and itching…. Ho Chi Minh City Market Management Department also discovered hundreds of violations, temporarily detained hundreds of thousands of smuggled drug products of unknown origin with a total value of tens of billions of VND, forcing the destruction of a large volume of infringing goods.