Thanh Hóa hospital responds to family’s report of more than 9 million dong for ambulance and medication

Thanh Hóa Provincial General Hospital says it did not provide the ambulance or staff involved in a family’s reported payment of more than 9 million dong to take a patient home 16 kilometers.

The hospital said the 58-year-old patient, identified as H.B.Đ., was admitted on August 1 with septic shock, multiple organ failure, pneumonia, suspected acute pancreatitis, cerebral infarction and type 2 diabetes. Doctors treated the patient in the intensive care and toxicology department, but the condition remained severe and showed little improvement.

After a medical consultation on August 14, doctors explained the patient’s condition and prognosis to the family. The family agreed to take the patient home for continued care and arranged transportation themselves at about 10 a.m. that day.

Following social media reports about the payment, hospital leaders reviewed the case and reported it to the Thanh Hóa Health Department. The hospital said the transport used an outside service and that the personnel caring for the patient during the journey were not hospital medical staff. It said the transport, medication used during the journey and related charges fell outside the hospital’s management because an external provider supplied them.

The Health Department said it had already instructed medical facilities in 2025 to comply with rules governing patient transport. On September 1, it issued another directive requiring hospitals and clinics to strengthen oversight of emergency care, transport assistance and patient support. Facilities must ensure that medicines and medical supplies follow prescriptions and professional procedures, while monitoring departments treating critically ill patients for improper sales or services. The department also reiterated that hospitals must not refer patients to outside ambulances for personal gain.

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The transport of the patient, the use of medication during transport and the costs reported by the family were handled by an outside provider or individual and did not fall within the hospital’s management of transport, medication, services or charges.