On September 10, 2026, the Ministry of Public Security announced its decision to indict and place Mr. Nguyen Huy Ngoc, Vice Chair of the Phu Tho Provincial People’s Committee, in pretrial detention on charges of “accepting bribes” under Clause 4 of Article 354 of the Criminal Code.
Also indicted and taken into temporary custody in this case is Mr. Le Dinh Thanh Son, Mr. Ngoc’s successor as Director of Phu Tho Provincial General Hospital.
It is known that Mr. Ngoc previously held two key positions in the local healthcare system: Director of the General Hospital and Director of the Phu Tho Provincial Department of Health.
Although the Ministry of Public Security’s initial announcement only identified the two suspects as having allegedly accepted bribes involving a very large sum of money, it did not disclose details regarding the bribe givers or the specific matters resolved in exchange for benefits.
However, a comparison of publicly available bidding data from the Phu Tho Provincial General Hospital with that of Viet My Healthcare Investment Joint Stock Company has shed light on the “convoluted” operational methods of medical equipment procurement projects.
According to data from the “National Bidding Network,” Viet My has participated in and won all six bidding packages for which Phu Tho Provincial General Hospital served as the project owner.
Upon retrieving and reviewing the details of the three most recent bidding packages with complete documentation, a common pattern of corruption emerged. Specifically:
The first bid, opened in November 2022, was for the maintenance of a linear accelerator system with an estimated budget of 2.92 billion VND; Viet My was the sole bidder and submitted a bid of 2.9 billion VND.
The second bid, in January 2024, was for the purchase of a SPECT/CT nuclear medicine imaging system valued at 25.4 billion VND; Viet My was again the sole bidder and won the contract with a bid of 25.25 billion VND, resulting in budget savings of only about 0.59%.
The third bid, whose results were announced in April 2025, was valued at 145.5 billion dong for the purchase of a particle accelerator system and a simulation CT scanner; Viet My was again the sole bidder and won the contract at 144.5 billion dong, exactly 1 billion dong less than the bid estimate.
According to analysts, the aforementioned series of three bidding packages revealed three unusual coincidences: Viet My was always the sole bidder; the winning bid price was very close to the estimated budget, with the savings rate consistently below 0.7%; and the packages all focused on high-value, specialized cancer treatment equipment.
The fact that a single company is the sole bidder, or that the savings rate is excessively low, cannot immediately be concluded as evidence of bid-rigging, as complex medical equipment depends on many other related factors.
However, the phenomenon of a “sole bidder” occurring repeatedly at a major provincial hospital also raises a series of questions that require answers from the relevant authorities.
Namely:
What quotations were used to establish the budget? Are the entities providing quotations truly independent from the winning bidder? Who reviews the technical specifications to create a request for proposals that, year after year, only one company is able to meet?
Does the responsibility for oversight in these “collusive bidding” schemes rest solely with the individuals who approved the requirements, budgets, and contractor selection results… or does it also extend to the Secretary of the Phu Tho Provincial Party Committee and even higher-ranking officials?
The decision to indict Mr. Nguyen Huy Ngoc and Mr. Le Dinh Thanh Son indicates that the Ministry of Public Security is tracing the flow of funds and reviewing approval decisions during the period when Ngoc and Son were in charge of management.
The major corruption case in Phu Tho serves as a costly lesson on the lack of transparency in public procurement, as the systematic exploitation of medical equipment procurement—from the central government down to local levels—remains an ongoing problem with no end in sight.
Tra My – Thoibao.de
