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Recently, authorities in Vietnam have uncovered and dealt with numerous cases of buying and selling documents for social insurance benefits, such as hospital discharge papers, aimed at exploiting the system. Despite these efforts, this malpractice continues to persist.
A simple search on Facebook for terms like “hospital admission papers,” “hospital discharge papers,” and “medical certificates” reveals numerous pages and groups dedicated to providing these “hospital documents” services. These pages have many followers, with membership ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands.
Daily, these fan pages and groups feature dozens of posts, advertisements, and comments about the services for buying and selling hospital admission and discharge papers, among others. The perpetrators create multiple social media accounts to advertise appealing offers, such as papers that ensure paid leave and social insurance benefits, providing services across all 63 provinces and cities to attract buyers.
When a buyer seeks these documents, the seller uses certain techniques to deliver the papers with all necessary stamps and signatures under the buyer’s name. The buyer then uses these documents to fraudulently claim social insurance benefits, causing significant damage to the insurance fund. In these cases, both the buyer and seller are breaking the law.
The payment of social insurance benefits is based on documentation, including a certificate of leave for outpatient treatment and a discharge paper for inpatient treatment. The social insurance agency checks the medical treatment information on the inspection portal. If the data is missing, the agency verifies the doctor’s signature and the medical facility’s stamp or confirms in writing with the issuing facility. Similar verification processes apply to discharge papers.
Currently, the police have investigated, dealt with, and recommended prosecution of several medical facilities and workers in Dong Nai, Binh Duong, and other provinces and cities for buying and selling leave certificates to claim social insurance benefits and discharge papers to exploit the Social Insurance and Health Insurance Funds.
Under Article 341 of the 2015 Penal Code, those selling fake documents to exploit social insurance commit the crime of forging seals and documents of agencies and organizations. Article 214 addresses social insurance fraud. Buyers using fake documents for sickness benefits will also face criminal charges proportional to their violations, based on the amount fraudulently claimed and the impact of their actions.
Article 214 of the 2015 Penal Code stipulates that the crime of social insurance and unemployment insurance fraud carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Offenders may also be fined from 10 to 100 million VND and banned from holding certain positions, practicing certain professions, or performing certain jobs for one to five years.
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