A women’s health center in Da Nang City is doing its clients a disservice, charging higher fees and giving out wrong information, a Thanh Nien investigation has found.
ThanhNien News
Last Updated: Monday, December 14, 2009 22:34:49 Vietnam (GMT+07)
The Da Nang Pregnancy Health Center offers Cervarix, a vaccine against cervical cancer, for women 10-55 years of age, while an instruction in January by the Ministry of Health says it works only with women 25 or younger, Thanh Nien found, following up on readers’ complaints.
People looking for cervical vaccines Cervarix and Gardasil at the center are asked to conduct two HPV (human papilloma virus) tests, one costing VND250,000 (US$13.55) and the other VND350,000, to identify the extent and type of HPV virus in their bodies.
But according to the producers, the tests are unnecessary because the vaccines are effective in preventing (HPV) types 16, 18, 31 and 45. Types 16 and 18 are generally known as causing about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. These two, along with 31 are said to be prime risk factors for cervical cancer while 45 is listed among the high-risk types.
The center conducts hepatitis B tests for VND54,000 a person while the Da Nang Preventive Health Center does it for VND40,000 and delivers the results in 15 minutes.
An unnamed employee at the Da Nang Pregnancy Health Center, had only this to explain the difference in prices: “If you like, go there to do the test.”
Comment from Leslie
The HPV screening tests are necessary and should be done everywhere. But of course, they are not. Once again FDA reports state that if a woman already has HPV and get the vaccine her chances of getting cervical cancer increase by 46%. And how do you like those odds? This information is also on my blog under Global Concerns About Gardasil.
If you liked my post, feel free to subscribe to my rss feeds
BlogoSquare
One Comment