HÒA BÌNH — Hòa Bình General Hospital has resumed kidney dialysis for patients after suspending the procedure following the death of eight persons in May last year.

Lê Xuân Hoàng, deputy director of the hospital, said the Ministry of Health had donated 10 dialysis machines, while the Institute of Environmental Health donated a multifunctional testing machine for the hospital’s artificial kidney department.

Currently, the hospital has 12 functional dialysis machines.

Hà Nội-based Bạch Mai Hospital has sent a team of doctors, nurses and technicians from its artificial kidney department to support Hoà Bình General Hospital in the first two weeks of operation, Hoàng said.

After the hospital resumed its kidney dialysis, 12 patients have come forward for treatment.

Another 24 patients will be treated today and 35 more will be treated from March 24.

Hoàng Công Tính, head of intensive rehabilitation ward of the artificial kidney department at the Hoà Bình General Hospital, said 129 patients have been admitted to the hospital for dialysis.

With the current number of patients, the hospital needs 22 dialysis machines. In the coming time, the department will strive to improve the quality of treatment for patients, Tính said.

Last May, 18 patients underwent kidney dialysis at the Hòa Bình General Hospital, following which they suffered from nausea, abdominal pain and shortness of breath. 

Eight of them died of suspected anaphylactic shock. The remaining 10 patients were transferred to Hà Nội’s Bạch Mai Hospital and have recovered.

This is one of the country’s most serious cases of medical negligence. Tests have revealed that the water used for kidney dialysis failed to meet safety standards. Water samples from dialysis machines No 10 and 13 had a low level of potential hydrogen and high conductivity; the fluoride level in these machines were 245 and 260 times higher, respectively, than the permissible limit of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI).

The other dialysis machines tested also had higher fluoride levels than permitted.

According to AAMI, the maximum fluoride level allowed in the kidney dialysis water is 0.2mg per litre.

Three persons, including Bùi Mạnh Quốc, director of Trâm Anh Water Treatment Co Ltd, Trần Văn Sơn, an employee from the hospital’s medical equipment department, and nephrologist Hoàng Công Lương have been prosecuted in the case. — VNS