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Medical disaster brings ministry warning
By Guo Nei (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-27 06:39
The Ministry of Health issued a warning Thursday to health watchdogs and
medical institutions to learn from a serious medical accident in which 10
patients lost their eyesight in East China's Anhui Province.
All medical institutions and workers are urged to abide by relevant laws and
regulations and follow the moral code of medical services, said a circular
issued by the ministry on its website.
Medical administration departments must also improve their supervision of
medical institutions, the circular said.
It reminded public hospitals of the prohibition against participating in
illegal commercial co-operations such as renting out their medical departments.
Ten people who had cataract surgery at the Suzhou City Hospital in Anhui last
month became seriously infected after their operations, the ministry circular
said.
All 10 patients were transferred to Shanghai the next day, but when emergency
treatment there failed, doctors had to remove the eyeballs of nine patients and
remove part of the corneas from the 10th, it said.
Ranging in age from 33 to 81, all the victims now live in misery, reports
said.
"My eyes keep festering, and I suffered so much that I could not fall asleep
at night," said Zhang Juling, 80, one of the victims.
To conduct the surgery, Zhang and his wife sold grain and borrowed money from
their relatives to collect 2,800 yuan (US$345) for his operation.
Inquiries showed that the scandal reflected the chaotic management of the
hospital, its illicit co-operation with a non-medical concern as well the
disregard of medical regulations, the circular said.
It blamed an illegal co-operation between the hospital and the Shanghai
Shunchunyang Science and Technology Trading Co for carrying out the cataract
operations.
It turned out that the Shanghai company was not licensed to provide medical
services.
After the tragedy, the Anhui Provincial Department of Public Health
confiscated 318,600 yuan (US$39,330) that the hospital collected for the illegal
operations.
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