Industrial oxygen use rocks hospital
By Jane Chen |
April 10, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TWO senior officials of a central China hospital are being investigated over the hospital's use of industrial oxygen to treat sick children.
Li Xilian, Party secretary of Hunan Province's Chenzhou Children's Hospital, and Jiang Zhi, the hospital's administrative office chief, have been removed from their post, yesterday's Global Times reported, citing Chen Yaguang, principal of the hospital's parent Chenzhou No.1 People's Hospital.
Chenzhou's disciplinary authority and prosecutors have joined the investigation, with the results expected next week, the newspaper cited a Chenzhou government official as saying.
The No. 1 hospital has confirmed the children's hospital had used industrial oxygen for medical purposes.
Oxygen for medical use must be pure at 99.5 percent, with foreign substances such as carbon dioxide extracted, according to officials with Xuhui Gas Co Ltd, Chenzhou's only licensed medical oxygen supplier.
Though purity of industrial gas can reach 99 percent, the foreign substances are not excluded and therefore it is banned from medical use.
Lung infection
The foreign substances can damage the respiratory system and cause breathing difficulties or lung infections, according to Wang Jishan, vice principal of Peking University People's Hospital.
Industrial oxygen sells at 7 yuan (US$1.03) per 40-liter bottle, compared to 30 yuan for medical oxygen, according to Xuhui officials.
Meanwhile, the chief of Chenzhou Industrial Gas Co Ltd, a company not licensed to do medical business and which has been supplying the industrial oxygen to the hospital since 1995, is Li's husband, according to sources.
In the past 15 months, the hospital bought 10,000 40-liter bottles of industrial oxygen making an illegal income of 300,000 yuan, according to an investigation by Chenzhou's drug authority.
The authority has confiscated the illegal income and fined the hospital 920,000 yuan, officials said.
Li Chang, father of three-month-old twins, told Global Times that his elder son developed heart disease after being treated at Chenzhou Children's Hospital probably due to the industrial oxygen.
He said his son was taken to the hospital a month ago for pneumonia. After being treated for one month, he was told to transfer the boy to another hospital as his condition deteriorated.
He then took the boy to Guangzhou Children's Hospital where the baby recovered after a week's treatment. But doctors there said his boy had a heart disease which is rare among such young babies.
Chenzhou Children's Hospital has promised a probe into Li's allegations.
Li Xilian, Party secretary of Hunan Province's Chenzhou Children's Hospital, and Jiang Zhi, the hospital's administrative office chief, have been removed from their post, yesterday's Global Times reported, citing Chen Yaguang, principal of the hospital's parent Chenzhou No.1 People's Hospital.
Chenzhou's disciplinary authority and prosecutors have joined the investigation, with the results expected next week, the newspaper cited a Chenzhou government official as saying.
The No. 1 hospital has confirmed the children's hospital had used industrial oxygen for medical purposes.
Oxygen for medical use must be pure at 99.5 percent, with foreign substances such as carbon dioxide extracted, according to officials with Xuhui Gas Co Ltd, Chenzhou's only licensed medical oxygen supplier.
Though purity of industrial gas can reach 99 percent, the foreign substances are not excluded and therefore it is banned from medical use.
Lung infection
The foreign substances can damage the respiratory system and cause breathing difficulties or lung infections, according to Wang Jishan, vice principal of Peking University People's Hospital.
Industrial oxygen sells at 7 yuan (US$1.03) per 40-liter bottle, compared to 30 yuan for medical oxygen, according to Xuhui officials.
Meanwhile, the chief of Chenzhou Industrial Gas Co Ltd, a company not licensed to do medical business and which has been supplying the industrial oxygen to the hospital since 1995, is Li's husband, according to sources.
In the past 15 months, the hospital bought 10,000 40-liter bottles of industrial oxygen making an illegal income of 300,000 yuan, according to an investigation by Chenzhou's drug authority.
The authority has confiscated the illegal income and fined the hospital 920,000 yuan, officials said.
Li Chang, father of three-month-old twins, told Global Times that his elder son developed heart disease after being treated at Chenzhou Children's Hospital probably due to the industrial oxygen.
He said his son was taken to the hospital a month ago for pneumonia. After being treated for one month, he was told to transfer the boy to another hospital as his condition deteriorated.
He then took the boy to Guangzhou Children's Hospital where the baby recovered after a week's treatment. But doctors there said his boy had a heart disease which is rare among such young babies.
Chenzhou Children's Hospital has promised a probe into Li's allegations.
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