Anesthetic might have killed 3 Vietnamese babies before free surgeries: doctor

Dr. Nguyen Ba Hanh, a military colonel and the hospital’s director, made the assumption when he attended a meeting between the Ministry of Health and the provincial Department of Health yesterday to discuss the possible cause of the deaths of the three babies from August 23 to 25.

Preliminary reports said that two of the three infants died on Sunday and the other passed away on Monday. But doctors have corrected them, saying that one infant perished a day between Saturday and Monday.

These children lost their lives after being anaesthetized by OSCA experts at the military clinic on August 23. They were among 11 children who were offered free cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries by the Center for Researching and Aiding Smile Operation (OSCA), a Hanoi-based non-governmental charity.

“We have reviewed the case and come to an initial conclusion that the anesthetic having been used on the three children killed them,” Dr. Hanh told the meeting.

“However, we have yet to identify the name of the anesthetic,” he said.

The doctor added that the hospital’s staff have sealed all medical devices and taken samples of medical materials earlier used on the victims.

Dr. Le Tan Phung, who represented the Khanh Hoa Province Health Department at the meeting, said the agency has set up a 10-member expertise council that will investigate the case and identify the exact cause of the deaths.

Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the health ministry’s Medical Examination and Treatment Department, asked the OSCA to provide the provincial health department with the list of medicines that had been used on the three victims.

Khue urged the newly-established expertise council to promptly investigate the case and determine the cause of the fatalities as soon as possible.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Le Nhu Toan, spokesman of the Khanh Hoa Province Police Department, affirmed on Tuesday that local police are looking into the deaths of the three babies.

However, he said, the families of the three victims did not agree for autopsies to be performed on their bodies, Sr. Lt. Col. Toan said.

OSCA unlicensed for medical services

Yesterday, August 26, deputy chief inspector of the Hanoi Department of Health Dang Thi Hoa and deputy head of the department’s Medical Management Division To Tu Anh arrived at the OSCA’s headquarters on Giai Phong Street, but they could not find Dr. Pham Van Ai, the organization’s president, as the office was closed.

A source told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the Hanoi Science and Technology Department granted a certificate for registration of scientific and technological activities with research fields including trauma and orthopedics, functional rehabilitation, therapeutic medicine, cosmetics, and plastic surgery to the OSCA.

But the charitable organization has yet to be licensed to engage in the field of medical examinations and treatment.

However, the OSCA has carried out many charitable surgeries in many provinces and cities over the past five years.

In October last year, an inspection team from the People’s Committee of Phuong Mai Ward, where the OSCA's head office is located, found the signboard “Hanoi Beauty Salon” fixed on the front of the office.

The inspectors then requested that the OSCA remove the signboard and not provide cosmetic services as it has not been licensed to do so thus far.

At that time, Dr. Ai made a commitment to the team that his organization would operate lawfully.