The Ministry of Health has just approved 2 business certificates of two products which are used for quick test of some types of cancer, said Nguyen Minh Tuan, director of the Ministry’s Department of Medical Equipment and Health Facilities.
Currently, several stores to sell medical equipments and pharmaceutical products including test sticks for quick detection of cancer.
Shop assistants advertise that the sticks can detect types of cancer such as breast, liver, pancreas and prostate with the precision of 99.5 percent.
However, Mr. Tuan said that through checking registration document of biological produces, the Ministry allows only two medical sticks to be sold in the market.
The two licensed medical sticks are Bioline AFP and SD Bioline CEA which are used for quick detection of some substances related to cancer.
Accordingly, the Department of Medical Equipment and Health Facilities asked health departments nationwide to inspect pharmacy stores that sell and advertise test sticks for quick detection of cancer. Additionally, health authorities and media must provide information to residents to avoid misunderstanding of these products.
A person has to go hospital for examination and essential tests to confirm whether he has cancer or not, he said.
