Physician causing spread of HPV infection in boys prosecuted

December 28, 2017 - 18:22

Police in this northern province have detained a physician for violating regulations on medical examinations and treatment and the production, distribution and sale of medicine or other medical services.

A boy suffering from genital warts undergoes treatment at the National Hospital of Dermatology in Hà Nội. – VNA/VNS Photo Phạm Kiên
Viet Nam News

HƯNG YÊN — Police in this northern province have detained a physician for allegedly violating regulations on medical examinations and treatment and the production, distribution and sale of medicine or other medical services.

Colonel Đào Trọng Bằng, head of the provincial Police Department’s Criminal Police Unit, said a preliminary investigation showed that physician Hoàng Thị Hiền, owner of a private health clinic in Khoái Châu District’s Dạ Trạch Commune, had conducted a medical procedure on the foreskin of 37 boys using a pair of scissors infected with human papilloma virus (HPV).

As a result, all the boys developed genital warts, a symptom of a contagious sexually transmitted disease caused by strains of HPV.

The provincial health department’s inspection in July found that the health clinic was not licensed for operation. Hiền had conducted circumcisions beyond her permitted practice as a physician. She was also found to be illegally selling medicine at her clinic.

Hiền’s clinic was forced to shut down, and she was not permitted to use her professional certificate to perform any medical practice for 12 months pending the results of the investigation.

In July, the Ministry of Health urged the provincial Department of Health to quickly verify the news that many boys in Khoái Châu District were infected with HPV after being treated at a local health clinic.

The patients, all under 15 years of age, were admitted to the National Hospital of Dermatology between May 1 and July 17 after developing genital warts.

The patients’ families revealed they had taken their children to Hiền’s health clinic for circumcision. — VNS

 

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