~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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[Year 2002]

Vietnam starts work on 1st traditional medicine super market

HANOI - Bao Long Traditional Drug Company has started construction of Vietnam's first supermarket for traditional medicine in Hoa Lac, northern Ha Tay province, about 20 km west of Hanoi. The 10-storey super market will be built on an area of 4,800 sq. m. at a cost of US$2 million. Seventy per cent of the total sum will come from the Support and Development Fund and the rest from the Bao Long Co. Ltd. The super market, the biggest in the north, is expected to be put into use in early 2003.

The project aims to collect valuable herbs nationwide as well as rare and precious oriental medicinal herbs from China and Malaysia. It will also provide medical services to people, said Director of the Bao Long company Nguyen Huu Khai. The project aims to attract experienced physicians to assist with the development of traditional medicine and create favourable conditions for people to receive traditional medical treatment, noted Khai. Earlier this year, a project to form an oriental medicine street in Hai Thuong Lan Ong road of Ho Chi Minh City was approved by the municipal People's Committee.

Vietnam presently has about 4,000 traditional physicians, including 22 professors and 20 doctorate holders while more than 5,000 western medical physicians have been armed with the knowledge of traditional medicine. Traditional physicians have compiled more than 40,000 prescriptions and collected almost 700 relevant historical works helpful to their services.

Vietnam News Agency - February 05, 2002.


Nearly half of vietnamese doctors provide inappropriate prescriptions

Up to 40% of clinical physicians have provided patients with unsuitable prescriptions due to incorrect diagnosis, according to a recent report from Dr. Nguyen Huy Thin, Deputy Head of the Treatment Department. Thin was speaking at a conference on Training for the Safe and Proper Use of Drugs held by the Ministry of Health on January 30 in Hanoi. Many doctors cannot identify the problem, and therefore prescribe a range of drugs for the patient, often without successfully treating the ailment.

Financial Times Information / Global News Wire - January 31, 2002.