Question marks over healthcare park developer

Dubious: a model of the high-tech healthcare park A businessman turned monk with several other hats is suspected to be the promoter of a project touted as a multimillion-dollar healthcare park in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Hai Thuong Healthcare Park is mired in controversy after it held a groundbreaking ceremony last Saturday, without getting a license. In one of several inconsistencies surrounding the healthcare park, the groundbreaking ceremony was held in Binh Chanh District and not at the purported project site, District 2. The invitation to the ceremony mentioned representatives from several international organizations and Vietnamese government agencies would attend, but a local newspaper reported it could spot just one official from the HCMC health department. Many monks attended the groundbreaking ceremony, media photos have shown. This has prompted suspicions that the project developer is Nguyen Thieu Van, who is also a monk known as Thich Minh Tam. Nguyen Thieu Van, aka Thich Minh Tam Thanh Nien has since spoken to several people who had been approached by Van to participate in the venture. They said Van returned to Vietnam from abroad several times in 2004 and 2005 to participate in charity activities. Van, who claims to hold two doctorate degrees in law and economics from Australia and the US respectively, tried to convince many people to get involved in developing the Hai Thuong healthcare park, promising many international organizations would be very willing to sponsor the project. Among other things, he also told people he had worked for the United Nations, many international institutions including the World Bank, and was formerly the managing director of DBM Global, a major international financial group. Van also said he was a member of the Australian Bar Association. But lawyer Trinh Vinh Phuc of the HCMC Bar Association said Tam had been dismissed from the Australian Bar Association. Tam said he had verified the information through the Internet and other sources. Phuc said that like many other people, he had also joined the project with Van but quit after discovering many dubious circumstances surrounding the identity of Van and the feasibility of the project. Speaking with Thanh Nien Friday, Monk Thich Thien Tanh, an official of the HCMC Buddhists Association said so far his agency had not heard anything about the project. He urged agencies concerned to investigate who were behind the project. “We would not brook anyone or any organization who misuses Buddhism in pursuit of personal gains or for other purposes,” he said. The organizing committee of Saturday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the Hai Thuong international high-tech healthcare park had presented it as an 18-story complex with 500 beds that would provide the latest treatment and facilities in the world, with leading experts hired to provide consultation services. It would also provide free treatment and medicines to 2,000 patients every day, it was announced. The project’s investors include several organizations from Australia, the United Nations, and other nongovernmental organizations, a member of the organizing committee had said. WHAT AUTHORITIES SAY Deputy director of the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment, Nguyen Thi Huu Hoa, told Thanh Nien Wednesday her agency had not licensed the healthcare park. “We have not heard anything about this project,” she said. Nguyen Van Chau, director of the city’s Health Department, said the department had found it “very strange” when it received the invitation. Chau said he had deputed a department official to work with the project representatives. Le Minh Hai, head of the department’s Private Health Services Management Division, said the project developers had failed to provide a single legal document regarding construction of the park. Ho Huu Thuan, who heads the management board for the Saigon South urban area, where the groundbreaking ceremony was held, said the construction of the healthcare park was just a “fabricated rumor,” Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. On Wednesday, HCMC People’s Committee vice chairwoman Nguyen Thi Thu Ha said she had instructed agencies concerned to investigate the project. Any violations must be reported back to the city administration in a week at the latest, she said, adding tough measures would be taken against those flouting regulations. Reported by Thanh Nien Staff