Related News

Home » Nation

Hospital infects 64 with hepatitis

THE ex-president of a hospital in southwestern China has been detained as 64 patients were confirmed to have hepatitis C after having a blood transfusion at the hospital in 2001, the local government said yesterday.

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease affecting the liver. The infection, often asymptomatic, may result in liver failure or liver cancer. It is spread by blood-to-blood contact. The infected blood was bought from a hepatitis-C carrier.

The Pingtang County People's Hospital in Guizhou Province found one of its patients had been infected with the disease in September, according to Xie Yong, vice president of the hospital.

The unidentified patient had undergone surgery at the hospital on March 1, 2001 and been given a blood transfusion.

The hospital identified where the blood had come from and reported the case to the county's health authority.

The infected donor, Li, who sold blood to the hospital in 2001, was living in Jiangsu Province and tested positive for hepatitis C.

A task force was set up to identify patients who had been given Li's blood. Sixty-five receivers have been tested by yesterday and 64 were confirmed as being infected. Most of them needed instant treatment.

Pingtang County has deployed 1.63 million yuan (US$238,433) in funds to offer treatment and compensation, and has launched further sample tests.

Meanwhile, the senior officials in two hospitals in north China have been removed from their posts after 20 patients were found to have been infected with hepatitis C after receiving dialysis, the Ministry of Health announced yesterday on its Website.

The ministry ordered a probe into the two hospitals in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province, after receiving reports about six patients on February 27.

The patients underwent dialysis at the Taiyuan Hospital for Employees of the Public Transport System and Shanxi Coal Industry Central Hospital. The hospitals had no proper policies for administering dialysis and repeatedly used equipment that should have been disposed of after one use, the ministry said.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend