The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has asked police to look into an issue in which the ministry’s official logo has been modified illegally to show the image of ‘a snake holding an envelope in its mouth.’

Spread on social media on Saturday, the wrong logo was used at a ceremony to launch a contest for the promotion of civil servants’ ranks and public employees’ professional titles held by the health ministry on September 10 at Hanoi Medical University.

Instead of featuring ‘a snake coiled around a staff,’ an internationalized symbol of the Vietnamese medicine sector, the wrong logo depicts ‘a snake with an envelope held in its mouth.’

Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Saturday evening that the ministry had requested the Internal Political Security Department under the Ministry of Public Security to probe the origin of the modified logo.

The official logo of Vietnam’s Ministry of Health is seen. Photo: Ministry of Health

Tuyen affirmed that the logo template sent by the ministry to Hanoi Medical University is correct, while the image used at the contest was taken from the Internet by the school’s technical staff and is not the same as the official one.

The wrong symbol was used not only at the competition but also on the cover page of a manual issued by the ministry to contestants of the language examination which was part of the contest.

“The staff in charge of the manual for this year’s contest re-used the cover page that was created last year, without noticing that the logo on that page is a wrong one,” Tuyen explained.

“Competent agencies are investigating the case and those involved in the use of the wrong logo at that contest as well as in the manual will be strictly punished,” the official stated.    

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!