Health minister, Hanoi chairman expelled from Communist Party

Previously in March, the Central Inspection Committee said the Party Committee and officials of the health and science ministries in the 2016-2021 term were negligent in their management, allowing violations at the ministries and their units regarding the approval, management and sale of Covid-19 test kits.

Phan Quoc Viet, general director of Viet A, admitted in January that he had inflated the price of a Covid-19 test kit by 45 percent and sent around VND800 billion ($35.2 million) as “bonuses” to company partners. Viet said he had bribed certain individuals to earn over VND500 billion.

A series of officials, including high-ranking military generals and directors of provincial Center for Diseases Control, have been arrested or put under criminal investigation for their involvement in the case.

Chu Ngoc Anh, 57, is a Hanoi native. From April 2016 to September 2020, he served as Minister of Science and Technology. In September 2020, he was elected as Hanoi chairman, replacing Nguyen Duc Chung who was facing a criminal investigation.

He was tasked with leading Hanoi in the context of the city struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic. During his 1.5-year tenure as Hanoi chairman, Anh completed the final pieces of capital planning by approving the Red River and Duong River subdivision plans, as well as Hanoi’s underground space. The city recorded nearly 3 percent of economic growth in 2021.

Nguyen Thanh Long, 56, is from Nam Dinh Province in northern Vietnam. He officially took the Health Minister position in November 2020, replacing former health minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, who was relieved of duty by the National Assembly due to retirement age. Long spent this time directing Vietnam’s fight against the Covid-19 epidemic while also serving as the Head of the Central Committee for Health Care.