Hep C infections lead to disciplinary action

Top executives and medical workers of a hospital in Jiangsu province were punished, including being removed from their positions and having licenses revoked, following an investigation of a hepatitis C infection case involving 69 dialysis patients, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday.

The accident, in Dongtai People's Hospital in Dongtai city, occurred because of lax management that resulted in the failure of infection prevention and control, which caused serious consequences, the commission said in a statement.

The Party chief, president and a vice-president of the hospital were removed from their posts and are under further investigation, while five doctors and 14 nurses in the hospital received punishments ranging from six-month suspensions to license revocations, it said.

The commission also said officials from the health commissions of Dongtai and Yancheng city, which administers Dongtai, also received punishment, which wasn't specified.

Business has been suspended at the hospital's blood purification center, where the infections happened, and all patients receiving dialysis have been transferred to other hospitals, the commission said.

The commission also ordered local health authorities across China to conduct thorough inspections in hospitals targeting infectious control and prevention to prevent similar accidents.

The commission started an investigation following reports of patients in the hospital infected with hepatitis C in May. It revealed a series of problems in the operation of the hospital's blood purification center, including sharing dialysis machine equipment; an absence of separation between the area for treatment of noninfectious patients and patients with infectious diseases such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C; and a lack of training among nurses working in the center.

The hospital also failed to comply with regulations to give infection tests to all dialysis patients every six months, and sterilization measures were not strictly followed by some medical staff, the commission said. In addition, the hospital failed to report infectious cases to local health authorities in a timely manner as required by regulations, the commission said.

The center discovered the first hepatitis C case in mid-April and started to test other patients for hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

By May 12, 38 dialysis patients were tested, with 11 found hepatitis C positive. The hospital reported the infection to Dongtai's health commission the next day, and the following tests, which covered all 161 dialysis patients in the center, confirmed a total of 69 hepatitis C cases.

wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/19/2019 page4)