HÀ NỘI — Hoàng Thị Hiền, owner of a private health clinic in Hưng Yên Province, has been suspended from work for 15 days while investigation into her illegal treatment of phimosis in boys is underway.

The suspension will be extended until the investigation is completed, the Tuổi trẻ (Youth) reported on Monday.

The decision was made recently by deputy director of the province’s health department Bùi Quang Chung.

The clinic, based in Khoái Châu District, was found to be responsible for nearly 50 boys developing genital warts after undergoing circumcision there.

On Monday, Chung is heading a meeting with the department’s health experts to identify the connection between Hiền’s treatment of phimosis and the boys’ disease.

The department will collaborate with doctors from the National Hospital of Dermatology and Venereology in Hà Nội to provide treatment to the boys and health examinations for their parents to prevent transmission. It will also examine the clinic’s medical equipment seized by police to identify the source of disease transmission to the boys.

The capital city’s hospital recorded a drastic increase in the number of children requiring treatment of genital warts in June and July. Nearly 50 out of 52 boys from HưngYên Province were from Khoái Châu District and had received treatment for phimosis at Hiền’s clinic.

The hospital advised those who had received treatment at the clinic to get checked up at the hospital since genital warts incubation period can last for a year.

Boys under 15 years old will receive free treatment for the disease from the hospital until the end of this year.

Hiền has been working as a nurse at Mễ Sở Commune’s health clinic in Văn Giang District and practising at her unlicensed home clinic.

The province’s health department has proposed revoking Hiền’s professional certificate for between six and 12 months and imposed a VNĐ110 million (US$4,400) fine on her home clinic.

However, the department has not taken responsibility for allowing the unlicensed clinic to operate for the last several years, the newspaper reported. — VNS