Vietnam appoints new ministers of health, transport and auditor general

Nguyen Van Thang, 49, Party chief of the northern Dien Bien Province, was named the transport minister for the 2021-2026 term.

A Hanoi native, Thang holds a PhD in financial and monetary theory.

Nguyen Van Thang, the new Minister of Transport. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

He used to work at the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade, or Vietinbank, and hold many important positions such as head of the Department of Banking and Financial Institutions.

In July 2018, he became deputy chairman of the northern Quang Ninh Province before working as deputy Party chief and Party chief of the province.

He became Party chief of northern Dien Bien Province in October 2020.

The NA’s approval was made after it passed a resolution to dismiss Nguyen Van The from the transport minister position Friday morning, upon his request. The told the press in June he was under “a lot of pressure” working as transport minister.

Dao Hong Lan, who has been working as acting minister of health for around three months after her predecessor Nguyen Thanh Long was dismissed in a Covid test kit scandal, was officially appointed the minister.

New Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan. Photo by National Assembly

Lan, 51, is a native of the northern Hai Duong Province. She holds an economic master’s degree and is a member of the 13th Party Central Committee for the 2021-2026 term.

She used to work as a specialist of Social Insurance Department under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and then became the department’s deputy head.

Later, she worked as deputy chief of office and then office chief and deputy minister of labor.

In March 2018, she was appointed deputy secretary of the Bac Ninh Provincial Party Committee.

In Sep. 2020, she became the secretary, making her the first-ever female Party chief of Bac Ninh.

Also on Friday, the NA appointed Ngo Van Tuan, deputy Auditor General in charge of the State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV), its auditor general for the term 2021-2026.

A native of the northern Bac Ninh Province, Tuan, 51, holds a master’s degree in economics.

Ngo Van Tuan, the new Auditor General of the State Audit Office of Vietnam. Photo by the National Assembly

Tuan used to work as deputy head of the Department of Financial Policy, Deputy Chief of Office cum Assistant Minister, Finance Director of banks and financial institutions at the Ministry of Finance.

In 2017, he was appointed deputy head of the Central Economic Commission.

In June 2019, he was assigned deputy Party chief of the northern Hoa Binh Province. He had been the Party chief of Hoa Binh since October 2020 until July 2022 when the Politburo, the highest body of the Communist Party of Vietnam, appointed him as Party chief of SAV.

Later in July, he was appointed deputy Auditor General in charge of SAV.

Tuan’s appointment was made after the former auditor general, Tran Sy Thanh, became chairman of Hanoi in July. Thanh succeeded Chu Ngoc Anh, who had been sacked for commiting violations in the Covid-19 test kit scandal involving former health minister Long.

According to the Party’s Central Inspection Committee, Long and Anh had been negligent in their management, allowing violations regarding the approval, management and sale of Covid-19 test kits.

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