On the afternoon of March 31, the Government Inspectorate announced the Inspection Conclusion on the Inspection of the Investment Project to build a new facility 2 of Bach Mai Hospital and Viet Duc Friendship Hospital in Ha Nam province.
The construction contract was signed unclearly and did not comply with any regulations in the legal documents on construction contracts. The parties had just signed the contract, but 8 days later, they had to request adjustments to the basic design. This led to construction without a technical design, construction design drawings, and no estimate.
Mr. Cuong said that waste is common in both projects, in many different forms. This "wastes people's opportunities for medical examination and treatment, causes public concern, and reduces people's trust."
The Government Inspectorate has transferred the case file with signs of crime to the Ministry of Public Security for consideration and investigation. "After the inspection, the figure of thousands of billions of VND discovered is many times higher than the initial estimated damage of about 100 billion VND. Through the inspection, we clearly understand the nature of waste as lost value that cannot be recovered," said Mr. Cuong.
Sharing about the "not small challenges" when taking part, Mr. Cuong said that this was a surprise inspection under the direction of the Central Steering Committee on preventing and combating corruption, waste and negativity. General Secretary To Lam directly requested the Government Inspectorate to issue a conclusion before March 31.
The inspection period is only 40 days, including holidays and Lunar New Year, but the inspection period is very long, from 2014 to 2024. During this period, the legal system has many changes, many regulations have been abolished, amended, supplemented, and applied transitionally. Therefore, the inspection team had to evaluate nearly 3,000 document items, comparing them with thousands of different old and new regulations.
The Bach Mai Hospital and Viet Duc Hospital 2 projects started in 2014, each with 1,000 beds to reduce the overload of the first facility. Both facilities are located in Ha Nam province and the investor is the Management Board of Key Medical Projects. However, to date, both hospitals have not yet come into operation.
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| Facility 2 of Bach Mai Hospital. |
Bach Mai Hospital had partially operated its second facility in 2019 but had to stop operations since March 2020. Meanwhile, Viet Duc’s second facility only stopped at the ribbon cutting ceremony and has never received any patients. Currently, the two hospital campuses are abandoned, overgrown with weeds, many items are unfinished and most of them have not been equipped with medical equipment.
The Ministry of Health pointed out three main reasons for the project's delay.
Firstly, these are the first major projects in the health sector to apply the EPC contract form (engineering, procurement and construction), leading to investors and contractors not fully anticipating difficulties in the implementation process.
Second, the Covid-19 pandemic from 2019 to 2022 forced many localities to practice social distancing, affecting public investment activities.
Finally, problems in adjusting the contract price, including adding departments and changing functions and structures according to professional requirements, made it impossible for the investor to pay the contractor.
Bach Mai Hospital's second facility has a scale of 1,000 beds, with a total floor area of 118,941m2. The total investment is 4,990 billion VND, with the State budget capital being 4,500 billion VND and other sources.
Facility 2 of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital has a scale of 1,000 beds, total floor area of 117,714m2. Total investment is 4,968 billion VND, state budget capital is 4,500 billion VND and other sources.
In mid-February, the Government issued Resolution No. 34 on mechanisms and solutions to handle difficulties and obstacles in the investment project to build the second facility of Bach Mai Hospital and Viet Duc Friendship Hospital.