Government reports on wrongdoings related to COVID-19 test kit developer

The test kit of the Viet A Technologies JSC.

Hanoi-The Government, in its report on the COVID-19 prevention and control submitted to the National Assembly (NA) on January 4, affirmed that the Viet A Technologies JSC had took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to seek illegal profit.

The report noted that in early 2020, when there hadn’t been any SARS-CoV-2 test kits, even imported ones, licensed to be used in Vietnam, the country faced a shortage of those kits and had to depend on assistance from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC), which caused great pressure on the pandemic response.

In that context, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) coordinated with other units to develop a RT-PCR test kit for detecting the novel coronavirus. The task performance was chaired by the Vietnam Military Medical Academy and implemented in coordination with the Viet A company.

The first phase of this project was approved at a meeting on March 3, 2020 of a council set up by the MST. All the eight member experts and scientists of the council agreed to propose the Ministry of Health (MoH) authorise the kit.

After receiving a dossier seeking the test kit authorisation amid the urgent anti-pandemic demand, the MoH’s department for health care equipment and projects intructed this company to provide supplements to the dossier.

On December 4, 2020, the MoH issued a decision on granting circulation numbers to the products “LightPower iVA SARS-CoV-2 1st RT- rPCR” of the Viet A company and “One-Step RT-PCR covid-19 Kit Thai Duong Multiplex-3 target genes Version 1.0” of the Sao Thai Duong company. Both circulation numbers have a validity period of five years since the date of granting.

The Government’s report said the WHO and the USCDC paid great attention to Vietnam’s successful isolation and cultivation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as well as its test kit development. These organisations helped the country carry out external assessment and independent verification.

Results show that the laboratories that include the biological products used in all the four external assessments, with three assisted by the USCDC and one by WHO, from May 2020 to October 2021 met standards, which means the tests satisfied quality requirements.

According to the report, the wrongdoings by the Viet A Technologies JSC were serious, and the Government and Prime Minister ordered the Ministry of Public Security to investigate the violating persons.

The Viet A company took advantage of the pandemic to seek illegal profit. Some individuals also broke the regulations on procurement and bidding and abused their positions and power while performing duties.

This case has been listed among those under the monitoring of the Central Steering Committee for corruption and negative phenomena prevention and control. The Prime Minister has also requested prompt investigation and strict settlement of any irregularities that made use of the pandemic to gain illegal profit, the report noted.

It added that the MoH and the MST are quickly reviewing the entire test kit development, assessment, transfer, authorisation, and management process to serve the probe.