According to the Ministry of Health , tonight, May 24, with the timely support of WHO, 6 vials of Botulinum Antitoxin Heptavalent sent from WHO's warehouse in Switzerland arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, promptly treating patients with Botulinum poisoning.

Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said: "With the close direction of the Minister of Health, we and the leaders of the Drug Administration Department worked with many functional agencies to complete the procedures, transfer the fastest amount of medicine to Vietnam, and treat the waiting patients."

Previously, the Ministry of Health received a dispatch from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health on May 21 regarding cases of botulinum poisoning being treated in Ho Chi Minh City and the need for treatment drugs. The Drug Administration Department urgently contacted, discussed and worked with WHO to receive urgent support for treatment drugs.

On the afternoon of May 23, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan had a direct working session with the WHO Office in Hanoi and immediately after that, WHO decided to provide emergency aid of Botulinum Antitoxin Heptavalent to patients being treated at hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to the Ministry of Health, Botulinum poisoning is caused by infection with the bacterial toxin Clostridium botulinum. This poisoning is very rare, both in Vietnam and in the world. The main cause is that the patient is infected with bacterial toxins in poor quality food, eating poorly preserved foods. From 2020 to now, there have been a few cases per year, recently there were 3 cases in Ho Chi Minh City.

Because this disease is very rare, the supply of the drug to treat this disease (BAT) in the world is also very rare. Therefore, this is a drug that is not easy to proactively supply. Besides, the price of this drug is also very high. In Vietnam, BAT is not currently on the list of drugs covered by the health insurance fund.

The Ministry of Health also recommends that people should be extremely careful not to preserve and use food that has been processed for a long time; it is necessary to ensure food safety, avoiding the risk of poisoning in general, and Botulinum toxin poisoning in particular.