China: Five patients infected with HIV after hospital staff member reuses medical equipment
In another incident, nine people at a hospital in Shandong province were infected with hepatitis B virus as procedures were not followed.
At least five patients were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus at a Chinese hospital because a staff member reused the medical equipment after treating an individual with HIV, South China Morning Post reported on Thursday. Five officials, including the president and executive vice-president of the hospital, have been sacked.
Officials said a technician at Hangzhou’s Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine failed to discard a hypodermic needle after using it on an HIV patient. The staff member then reused the same needle on five other patients, infecting them with HIV.
In a statement released by the health and family planning commission in Zhejiang province, the authorities condemned the incident and said the staff member had violated medical procedures. They also said those affected will be provided treatment and compensation, BBC reported.
Meanwhile, in another incident at the People’s Hospital in eastern Shandong province in China, nine patients were infected with the hepatitis B virus after the staff failed to follow proper medical procedures, reported Reuters. Several staff members, including the head and deputy head of the hospital, were sacked.
In the 90s, a major scandal had broken out in Henan province of China when farmers sold their blood to unlicensed blood banks. They had been re-injected the same blood after the lucrative plasma was removed from it. In 2001, China had said between 30,000 to 50,000 people had contracted HIV during this scandal, reported BBC.
