Many self-claimed dentists in Ho Chi Minh City have been found using counterfeited diplomas that were forged so skillfully that even city health inspectors cannot believe them to be fake, a Tuoi Tre investigation has found.

>> Exposé finds sham dentists working at Saigon illicit dental clinics>> In Vietnam, dentists run clinics on paper only Each of such sham diplomas was sold for as much as VND60 million (US$2,850). On April 11, an inspection team of the District 7 Health Office, inspected a number of dental clinics on Huynh Tan Phat Street, including Viet Han Style dental clinic owned by “dentist” Trinh Truc Khiem, 34, who hails from south-central Binh Dinh Province. The clinic was registered under the name of Nguyen Thi My Dieu, a dentist, but Khiem is the person who actually runs the facility. Khiem failed to show the inspectors the clinic’s operation license, his practitioner’s certificate, and that of dentist Dieu when the inspection was being carried out. He, however, handed the inspectors a certified copy of a dentist diploma. As shown in the paper, the diploma was issued to Khiem by the HCMC Medicine and Pharmacy University on September 19, 2008.

Khiem is not included on the list of clinic health personnel, according to the clinic’s records kept at the HCMC Health Department.Tuoi Tre then referred the copy to the university for verification and an academic affairs official confirmed that it was created from a fake degree certificate.  He added that health inspectors would likely be unable to differentiate it from the real one as the counterfeit was made so meticulously. Bui Minh Trang, chief inspector of the HCMC Health Department, admitted that the agency has sought help from the university many times as it could not identify which were fake among the diplomas, suspected to be sham, it is keeping. Contacting To Hoang Phuong, a broker who has helped those ineligible to obtain an operation license for their dental clinic ‘borrow’ the names of qualified dentists to apply for the certificate or rent the paper from them, Tuoi Tre discovered that Phuong had connections with dentist diploma counterfeiters.  He told the newspaper’s correspondents that a simulated diploma can be delivered after 3 days, or a week, at a cost of VND50-60 million ($2,370-2,850). Buyers of fake diplomas are required to leave a deposit to their providers and will pay the remaining amount when they receive the counterfeited certificates, Phuong said.

Trang, the chief inspector, said that those who offer medical services without a license like Khiem will be fined VND30 million ($1,425).

The man added that he will transfer Khiem’s case to city police to track down the maker of his bogus diploma.

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