HÒA BÌNH — The director of the biggest hospital in Hòa Bình Province, where eight patients died after having dialysis last week, has been suspended till investigations into the incident are over.

On Thursday morning, Trần Quang Khánh, director of the province’s health department, announced that Trương Quý Dương, director of Hòa Bình General Hospital, had been suspended for 15 days.

Two other hospital employees, Trần Văn Sơn from the supplies-equipment division, and Đỗ Thị Hiệp from the intensive care department, have also been suspended for 15 days to assist the investigation into the largest fatal medical incident in Việt Nam’s history.

The incident took place on May 29, when seven of the 18 patients undergoing dialysis at Hòa Bình hospital displayed symptoms of anaphylactic shock and died soon after. Another patient who was also one of the 18 having dialysis that day, died seven days later because of multiple organ failure from unknown cause, raising the death count to eight.

The other ten kidney patients were rushed to Bạch Mai Hospital in Hà Nội and receiving free treatment. They were said to have recovered and were discharged from the hospital on Thursday.

The patients will continue receiving outpatient treatment (periodical dialysis) three times per week at Bạch Mai Hospital.

Khánh told the Vietnam News Agency that preliminary investigations indicate that water contamination may have led to the tragedy.

The official cause of death, however, has not been declared, and 11 leading medical experts, who are part of a special council set up by the municipal health department to look into the case, is studying the incident. The council held a closed meeting on Thursday morning.

Health Minister Nguyễn Thị Kim Tiến said the council would announce its conclusion later this week.

The police are also running their own investigation, and visited the hospital on Wednesday. They inspected dialysis procedures and collected medical samples used for 18 dialysis patients on May 29. — VNS