Laws of Vietnam

DECREE No.20-CP OF APRIL 13, 1996 OF THE GOVERNMENT PROMULGATING THE REGULATION ON MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENTS AS PRESCRIBED BY THE ORDINANCE ON THE HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS OF ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS ISSUED ON JULY 6, 1995

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;

Pursuant to the Ordinance on the Handling of Violations of Administrative Regulations issued on July 6, 1995;

At the proposals of the Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Minister of Health and the Minister of the Interior,

DECREES:

Article 1.- To issue together with this Decree the Regulation on Medical Establishments for the drug addicts, and prostitutes subjected to administrative sanctions.

Article 2.- The Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Minister of Health, the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Finance shall have to guide and inspect the implementation of the Regulation issued together with this Decree.

Article 3.- This Decree takes effect on the date of its promulgation. The Ministers, the Heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the Heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the Presidents of the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to implement this Decree. The regulations issued earlier by the Government which are contrary to this Regulation are now annulled.

REGULATION ON THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENTS AS PRESCRIBED BY THE ORDINANCE ON THE HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS OF ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS ISSUED ON JULY 6, 1995

(issued together with Decree No.20-CP of April 13, 1996 of the Government)

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- A Medical Establishment defined in this Regulation is the place to give medical treatment, to provide education, labor, job and vocational training for the drug addicts and prostitutes defined in the Ordinance on the Handling of Violations of Administrative Regulations issued on July 6, 1995.

Article 2.- Admission to a Medical Establishment is an administrative measure which can be taken only by decision of the President of the People's Committee of the province or city directly under the Central Government. The persons who are admitted to the Medical Establishment shall be given medical treatment, provided with education, ,job and vocational training under the management of the Medical Establishment for three months to one year.

Article 3.- To be taken into a Medical Establishment are the following persons:

a/ Drug addicts: These have been re-educated at the commune, ward or township but cannot yet get rid of addiction; or have been admitted to a Medical Establishment for detoxification but have relapsed into addiction; or who have so heavily been addicted that they are no longer able to be detoxicated at home or in the community .

b/ Prostitutes: They have been re-educated in the commune, ward or township but have not mended their way, or have been admitted to a Medical Establishment but have relapsed or have become regular prostitutes.

Shall not be admitted to a Medical Establishment adolescents under 18 years old or women more than 55 years old and men more than 60 years old.

Article 4.- The enforcement of the measure to take a person into a Medical Establishment must be done in accordance with the competence, procedure and order prescribed at the Ordinance on the Handling of Violations of Administrative Regulationsand this Regulation.

All acts of infringement on the body, health, honor and dignity of the persons taken into a Medical Establishment are strictly prohibited.

Article 5.- A Medical Establishment is a non-business unit having its legal person status and is allocated non-business expenditures. The financial sources to ensure the operation of such an establishment comprise the following:

- Allocations from the State budget;

- Additional budget supplied by the locality;

- Part of the income from the activities in productive labor of the inmates;

- Voluntary contributions by the families of the inmates;

- Contributions from individuals, economic units and social organizations in the country, and foreign individuals and organizations.

Chapter II

PROCEDURES FOR ADMISSION OF A PERSON TO A MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT

Article 6.- The compilation of the dossier, the examination, approval and decision to admit a drug addict or prostitute to a Medical Establishment must be done in strict conformity with the order, procedure and competence prescribed at Articles 74, 75 and 76 of the Ordinance on the Handling of Violations of Administrative Regulations.

The Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service shall cooperate with the Police and the Medical Service to help the People's Committee of the same level in the collection of documents to compile the dossier of the person to be admitted to the Medical Establishment.

Article 7.-

1. The dossier of the person to be admitted to the Medical Establishment and to be sent to the President of the People's Committee at the provincial level shall comprise:

- A curriculum vitae;

- Documents on earlier violations of law;

- A certificate of the state of health or the medical bulletin of the concerned person;

- The re-education measures already applied;

- Other documents related to the history of the concerned person (if any).

2. Within five days after receiving the dossier, the President of the People's Committee of the provincial level shall transfer it to the Consulting Council. Within 25 days after receiving the dossier, the Standing Member of the Consulting Council shall convene a meeting. This meeting shall be attended also by the representative of the People's Procuracy of the same level. The Council shall examine and vote in each specific case and submit their opinions to the President of the People's Committee of the province or city directly under the Central Government for decision.

The minutes of the meeting must record the opinions of the members of the Consulting Council and the representative of the People's Procuracy.

3. The Standing Member of the Consulting Council shall have to compile a document (to be attached to the minutes of the meeting of the Consulting Council) and submit it to the President of the People's Committee of the province or city directly under the Central Government for decision whether or not to admit the concerned person to the Medical Establishment.

Article 8.-

1. The Consulting Council is an agency to help the President of the People's Committee of the provincial level in the examination and approval of the dossier proposing the admission of the concerned person to the Medical Establishment. The Consulting Council shall be founded by decision of the President of the People's Committee of the province or city directly under the Central Government.

2. The Consulting Council is composed of representatives of the leadership of the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service, the Police, the Judiciary Agency, the Women's Union at the provincial level. The representative of the leadership of the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service is Standing Member of the Consulting Council. The Standing Member of the Consulting Council shall have to prepare, organize and preside over the meeting.

3. The Consulting Council adopts the method of collective work . The members of the Council work on a part-time basis and receive allowances according to prescriptions of law.

4. The operational expenses of the Consulting Council are covered by the budget of the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service.

Article 9.- Within 10 days after receiving the written proposal of the Consulting Council, the President of the People's Committee at the provincial level shall decide to admit the concerned person to the Medical Establishment.

Article 10.- Upon receiving the decision to admit the concerned person to the Medical Establishment, the President of the People's Committee at the district level shall direct the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service and the Police of the same level and the People's Committee at the communal level to work out a plan for the management and supervision of the person named in the decision of admission to the Medical Establishment. At the same time he/she shall have to collaborate with the Police at the provincial level in the implementation of the decision.

Article 11.- The person to be admitted to the Medical Establishment or his/her lawful representative may appeal against the decision as provided for in Article 89 of the Ordinance on the Handling of Violations of Administrative Regulations.

Article 12.-

1. The dossier of the person to be admitted to the Medical Establishment shall comprise:

- The main points of his/her personal history;

- The decision of the President of the People's Committee at the provincial level to take the concerned person to the Medical Establishment.

2. The dossier of the person to be admitted to the Medical Establishment shall be done in two copies, one to be kept by the Standing Member of the Consulting Council, and the other by the Medical Establishment. The dossier must be closely managed according to the regime of management of State dossiers, documents and official dispatches.

3. The reception of a person admitted to the Medical Establishment must be recorded in writing. The Medical Establishment must check the dossier and identity card of the person admitted to the establishment while filling the procedures for reception.

Article 13.- In case the person escapes from the establishment after his/her admission, the Directorate of the Medical Establishment must make a written record and immediately notify his or her family and the administration of the locality where he/she resides and the Police at the provincial level. The Directorate of the Medical Establishment shall also have to cooperate with the Police and the family in reconducting the concerned person to the Medical Establishment for continued medical treatment, re-education and labor.

Chapter III

ORGANIZATION OF THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT

Article 14.- A Medical Establishment for drug addicts and prostitutes shall be set up either in a province or a city directly under the Central Government. It shall be placed under the direct management of the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service. Each province or city shall have one such Medical Establishment.

After receiving a written consent of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the People's Committee at the provincial level shall decide the setting up or dissolution of the Medical Establishment in their locality.

In key provinces or cities with a large number of drug addicts and prostitutes, a Medical Establishment may be set up exclusively for the drug addicts and another for the prostitutes.

In the localities with a small number of drug addicts and prostitutes, such persons may be sent to the Medical Establishment of another locality if it is so agreed by the sending and receiving localities.

Article 15.- The Medical Establishment has the following functions and tasks:

- Receiving, giving medical care to and restoring the health of those admitted for medical care.

- Organizing the reeducation, studies and job training, ensuring conditions for the material and cultural life for the inmates in accordance with the prescriptions.

- Organizing productive labor for the inmates;

- Collaborating with the concerned agencies and units to manage, give medical treatment and education to, and organize labor and vocational and job training for the inmates.

Article 16.- The Medical Establishment shall arrange a separate sector for the drug addicts, and another sector for the prostitutes.

The Medical Establishment shall have to organize places for the reception of the concerned persons, for their medical examinations, education, job training, labor, board and lodging and everyday life in a hygienic and safe manner, as well places for their healthy recreation. Male and female inmates must be lodged in separate quarters and the sufferers of infectious diseases must be quarantined.

Article 17.- A Medical Establishment shall comprise the Directorate and the various sections for professional management:

1.- The Directorate comprises:

- The Director;

- A number of Vice Directors.

2. The professional management sections comprise:

- The Medicare and Rehabilitation Section;

- The Re-education and Job-training Section;

- The Productive Labor Management Section;

- The Personnel-Administrative and Accounting Section;

- The Guard Section.

Depending on the size of the establishment and the number of inmates, the People's Committee at the provincial level shall decide the number of necessary sections and persons suited to the Medical Establishment in its locality .

Article 18.-

1. When a complicated situation in medicare or order and security arises which is beyond the control of the establishment, the Director of the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service shall make a written proposal, and the Director of the Medical Service and the Director of the Police at the provincial level shall have to send cadres and personnel of their respective branches to strengthen, support and collaborate with the establishment in ensuring security and order and medical treatment and care at the establishment.

2. During their mission at the Medical Establishment, the cadres and personnel of the Medical and Police Services shall comply with the division of work and direction of the Director of the Medical Establishment.

3. All the cadres, personnel and combatants of the Medical Establishment shall enjoy the regime of allowances of responsibility, for toxicity and danger as prescribed by law.

Article 19.- The Director of the Medical Establishment shall be appointed and dismissed by the President of the People's Committee at the provincial level at the proposal of the Director of the Medical Establishment.

The Deputy Director(s) of the Medical Establishment shall be appointed and dismissed by the Director of the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service on the basis of the proposal of the Director of the Medical Establishment.

Article 20.- The Director of the Medical Establishment shall take responsibility for the operation of the Establishment on the basis of the provisionsof law.

The Deputy Directors shall assist the Director in carrying out the tasks as appointed by the Director.

Article 21.- The medical section of the Medical Establishment shall have to conduct health check for the persons newly admitted to the establishment in order to determine their health situation, their diseases and compile their health bulletins in service of the medical treatment and job training and the assignment of labor duties to them. The Director of the provincial or city Medical Service shall have to direct the medical section of the Medical Establishment and the related hospitals and medical centers to organize the treatment for the inmates of the establishment.

Basing itself on the health condition, professions and sex of the inmates and the work at the establishment, the Directorate of the Medical Establishment shall assign suitable jobs to the inmates. If the latter have had no previous professional training or if their professions do not suit the conditions of the Establishment, they may be taught a job.

Article 22.- The Directorate of the Medical Establishment shall have to organize complementary education or anti-illiteracy classes as currently prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training as well as classes on legal education for those admitted to the Medical Establishment.

Article 23.- Every month, the Directorate of the Medical Establishment shall make remarks or assessment about the results of the labor and education of the inmates in order to monitor the process of their re-education and self-training. For those who have made visible progress in the observance of the regulations, the Directorate shall write its observations and propose to the President of the People's Committee at the provincial level to shorten the term of the inmates at the Establishment. For those who have taken acts of resisting the persons on duty, who refused to implement the decision, who fled the establishment or taken other acts of violation which, however, are not serious enough to be examined for penal liability, the Director of the Establishment may propose the President of the People's Committee at the provincial level to consider the case and take the appropriate measure of penalty.

Article 24.- Within 10 days before the expiry of the term of implementation of the decision to admit a person to a Medical Establishment, the Directorate of the establishment shall notify the concerned person. On expirty of the implementation of the decision, the Directorate shall issue a certificate of completion of the term to the concerned person and send a copy of the certificate to the President of the People's Committee which has issued the decision to take the concerned person to the Medical Establishment, to the People's Committee of the district which made the proposal, and to the People's Committee of the commune where the concerned person resides in order to continue his/her management and education, the Medical Service and Police which have compiled the dossier, as well as notifying his/her family .

Article 25.-The State budget shall ensure the expenses to maintain the organization, activities, and material equipment of the Medical Establishment, to get the necessary supply of medicaments, the cost of job training, to cover the purchase of necessary things for the daily life of the inmates and part of the food for those who cannot take part in labor either due to difficult circumstances or health condition.

Article 26.- A Medical Establishment may receive drug addicts and prostitutes who have not reached the point of being forced to enter a Medical Establishment but who volunteer to enter the establishment for the purpose of medical treatment and physical rehabilitation. The organization of medical care and health rehabilitation for these persons must comply with the provisions of the law on medical examinations and treatment.

Chapter IV

REGIME WITH REGARD TO THOSE WHO ARE ADMITTED TO THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENTS

Article 27.- The persons who are admitted to a Medical Establishment shall have to strictly abide by the law of the State and the internal rules of the establishment, place themselves under the management and education of the establishment, obey the regime of treatment, medicare and labor prescribed by the establishment.

Article 28.- The persons who are admitted to a Medical Establishment shall have to pay for their food at the rate set by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

If, due to their exceptionally difficult circumstances certified by the People's Committee at the commune level, or due to their health and disease they cannot take part in labor or cannot fulfill their set labor quotas, the Medical Establishment may consider providing them free of charge their food rations for the first three months which represent 70% of the minimum monthly salary, and for the subsequent three months if they have no other income to assure their living conditions, but the subsidy in each of these additional months represent only 50% of the minimum monthly salary.

Article 29.- The persons admitted to the Medical Establishment are allowed to take along their essential effects for their daily life. They are allowed to meet their close relatives, send letters or information to their families, receive money, blankets and mosquito nets, clothings, medicaments, food and other essential personal effects sent by their relatives; they are allowed to take part in the cultural activities, sports and recreation and healthy spiritual activities organized by the Directorate of the Medical Establishment, are allowed to read books, newspapers and listen to the radio under the guidance of the Directorate of the Medical Establishment.

Article 30.- The inmates of a Medical Establishment are equipped with labor safety devices, sanitary and labor safety equipment, and enjoy the regime of working time prescribed by the legislation on labor.

The inmates of a Medical Establishment are entitled to enjoy their labor pay at the prescribed rates and according to the results of their work. This remuneration shall be used to cover the expenses in food and drink, and other activities defined at Article 28 of this Regulation. After deduction of these expenses, the remainder (if any) shall be sent by the Medical Establishment to their savings banks.

The inmates of a Medical Establishment are except from labor on Sundays, on the national and traditional holidays.

Article 31.- The inmates of a Medical Establishment are supplied with part of the expenses on medicaments, job training and expenses for the purchase of necessary personal effects at the rate prescribed by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.

Article 32.- The inmates of a Medical Establishment may express their desire or make their proposals to the Directorate concerning the management, medicare, education and labor at the establishment. They may file complaints and denunciations against acts of violation of law and the provisions of this Regulation.

Article 33.- The inmates of a Medical Establishment have the following obligations and interests after completing their terms:

- They have to return the articles, instruments and labor equipment and safety devices which they have borrowed and have to make compensations in case of loss or damage;

- They are issued with a certificate of completion of the term of medical care education and labor;

- They are issued with a certificate of job training (if any);

- They shall be given back their savings (if any)

- In difficult circumstances, they may be given expenses for travel expenses to return to their places of residence.

Article 34.- If the father or mother (of the inmate or his/her spouse), his/her spouse or child dies and that is certified by the People's Committee and at the proposal of the concerned person, the Directorate of the establishment may allow him/her to return to their home to attend to the funeral but for not more than three days (excluding the traveling days).

Article 35.-

1. An inmate of the Medical Establishment in childbirth shall be exempted from compulsory medical treatment, re-education and labor, and shall be allowed to return to their place of residence and entrusted to their family or the local administration or organization for management for a period of 12 months . This period of time shall not be accounted for in the time prescribed for the implementation of the decision.

a/ On expiry of the period of temporary suspension, the concerned person shall be reconvened to the establishment in order to continue his/her medical treatment, re- education and labor.

b/ During the period of temporary suspension, if the person concerned shows progress in the implementation of State laws and the regulations of the locality, they may be considered for exemption from continued implementation of the decision.

2. In the case mentioned at Point b, Item 1 of this Article, the President of the People's Committee of the commune where the concerned person resides shall make a written report to the President of the People's Committee at district level, and within five days after receiving the report, the President of the People's Committee of the district level shall consider the case and propose to the President of the People's Committee at the provincial level to consider and decide on the exemption from implementing the decision.

The decision on exemption shall be sent to the beneficiary, the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service, the Police at the provincial level, the People's Committee at the district level, the Peoples Committee at the commune level where the concerned person resides and the Medical Establishment where he/she is implementing the decision.

Article 36.- If the person admitted to the Medical Establishment is so sick as to exceed the treatment capacity of the Medical Establishment, the latter shall send him/her to a State hospital for treatment. The period of treatment shall be accounted for in the time of implementing the decision.

The medical expenditures during the period of hospitalization shall be borne by the inmate himself or herself. For those in exceptionally difficulty situations, the Directorate of the Medical Establishment may pay it to the hospital if the concerned person has filed a written demand. The rate and source of this payment shall comply with the prescriptions of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.

Article 37.- During his/her implementation of the decision to be treated at a Medical Establishment, if the inmate dies, the Directorate of the Medical Establishment must immediately report the death to the investigative agency and the nearest Procuracy agency so that they may come and make a written report to certify the cause of the death in the presence of witnesses, and when necessary, the Coroner of the province may be invited to examine and determine the cause of the death. At the same time the Directorate must inform the next of kin of the dead in order to organize the burial. If the dead has no next of kin or if the latter cannot arrive in time, or if the inmate dies of labor accident, the Directorate of the Medical Establishment shall have to organize the burial, the expenditures for which shall be covered by the State budget as prescribed by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.

If the inmate is injured by a labor accident the Medical Establishment shall have to pay for the medical expenditures from the first aid, the emergency care or operation and the treatment until the injury of the victim is stabilized.

Article 38.- During their time in the Medical Establishment, if the inmate breaks the law, he/she shall be subject to administrative sanction or be examined for penal liability, depending on the character and seriousness of the violation.

If the inmate makes progress or achieve meritorious deeds, he/she shall be commended and rewarded in time.

Chapter V

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STATE AGENCIES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT

Article 39.- The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs has the responsibility:

To effect unified State management over all the Medical Establishments of this type;

- To provide detailed guidance on the function, tasks, organizational structure, titles and criteria of the personnel of such establishments, and the responsibilities and powers of the Director;

- To guide the planning of the construction of these establishments (concerning the size, the design, the investment rate...);

- To cooperate with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Interior in the treatment and protection of such Medical Establishments, in the education and labor activities suited to each category of persons admitted to the establishment;

- To cooperate with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health in determining the rate of allowances for the expenditures in medicaments, in job training, in the purchase of necessary personal effects and other expenditures for the inmates;

- To cooperate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance in guiding the locality to work out the annual plan of expenditures for such Medical Establishments. To make an overall expenditure plan for the whole year;

- To supervise and control the organization and activities of the Medical Establishment;

- To effect international cooperation in the domain of detoxification and treatment of social diseases.

Article 40.- The Ministry of Health has the responsibility:

- To guide and direct the treatment of drug addiction and social diseases at the Medical Establishments;

- To send its cadres and personnel to take part in the medicare for the persons admitted to the Medical Establishment at the proposal of the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service;

- To work out the regime of treatment and detoxification for the drug addicts and social diseases for the persons admitted to the Medical Establishments;

- To study and determine the medicaments and methods of treatment.

Article 41.- The Ministry of the Interior has the responsibility:

- To guide the Police at various levels to cooperate with the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Services and the Medical Service to help the People's Committee of the same level in the collection of materials for compiling the dossier;

- To guide the sending of the persons subjected to the enforcement of the decision to a Medical Establishment;

- To send cadres and personnel of the service to join in the protection of the Medical Establishment at the proposal of the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service;

- To organize and provide professional guidance for the guards at the Medical Establishments;

- To cooperate in controlling the protection of the Medical Establishments.

Article 42.- The Ministry of Finance has the responsibility:

- To work out the regime of supplying the operational expenditures of the Medical Establishments;

- To guide the allocation of full and timely allocation of expenditures for the Medical Establishments according to the already ratified plan;

- To coordinate in controlling the use of such expenditures by the Medical Establishments.

Article 43.- The People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government have the responsibility:

- To cooperate with the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the concerned ministries in organizing and managing the Medical Establishments in their localities.

- To work out a plan for monitoring the treatment, re-education, labor and progress of the inmates of the Medical Establishments;

- To cooperate with the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior in guiding and directing the People's Committees at the district and commune levels and in collaborating with the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service and the police to create conditions for board and lodging for the inmates who do not have a permanent residence during the period of compiling the dossier, pending the decision of the President of the People's Committee at the provincial level to admit them to the Medical Establishments.

- To guide and direct the People's Committee at district level and the People's Committee at the commune level to create conditions for those who have completed their term at the Medical Establishments so that they can find a job and reintegrate with the community.

The People's Committees at the district level and the People's Committee at the commune where the persons who have completed their terms at the Medical Establishment reside, shall continue to manage and educate them and create conditions for them to get a secure job and stabilize their life and reintegrate with the community.

Article 44.- The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Finance shall have to cooperate in guiding the detailed implementation of this Regulation.