Trial for deadly medical accident resumes with new details

The first-instance trial for the accident at Hoa Binh General Hospital that killed nine people in May last year ended its sixth day on May 22 with a series of question and answer among defendants and the board of judges.- VNA/VNS Photo

In the morning session, the court presented the testimonies of Truong Quy Duong, who was director of Hoa Binh Hospital when the accident occurred, and Tran Van Thang, the head of the hospital’s equipment department.

On May 29, 2017, 18 patients suffered symptoms of anaphylactic shock while receiving kidney dialysis at the kidney dialysis division of the Hoa Binh General Hospital’s Department of Intensive Care. Nine patients died.

Duong and Thang were asked to show up to the court as persons related to the case but they refused, so the court had to present their testimonies.

According to the statement Duong gave to the Hoa Binh Province’s Police, he said the dialysis section belonged to the intensive care department. Doctor Hoang Cong Luong was assigned to give medical treatment to the patients and take part in giving first aid within the intensive care department in case of emergency or accidents.

However, doctor Luong disputed Duong’s testimony about his assignment at the hospital.

Lương said that he was a doctor in the intensive care department, not the dialysis section.

Also in the court session on Monday, Dinh Tien Cong, chief nurse of the intensive care department, affirmed that Luong’s assignment was chief doctor of the dialysis section.

Regarding the responsibilities of the hospital’s equipment department headed by Thang, Duong said the department was responsible for purchasing, providing and maintaining machines and equipment used in the hospital.

The department’s staff had to regulate the RO water filter system for dialysis machines.

He said he did not know the Thien Son Company, which signed a contract to provide equipment to the hospital, had resold the contract to Tram Anh Company.

Meanwhile, Thang said that defendant Tran Van Son, who had worked at the department since August 2013, was in charge of managing files of medical equipment and verifying the equipment’s quality, including maintaining and repairing equipment in the dialysis section, intensive care and eye departments.

Thang said Son did not give him any records relating to repairing the RO system of the dialysis section with Bui Manh Cuong, director of Tram Anh Company.

The defendant Tran Manh Son disputed Thang’s testimony.

The defendants include Bui Manh Quoc, director of the Tram Anh Water Treatment Co Ltd and a resident of the northern province of Bac Ninh, who was prosecuted for “unintentionally causing deaths.”

The others are Tran Van Son, an official of the medical material and equipment division of the Hoa Binh General Hospital, and Hoang Cong Luong, a doctor of the Department of Intensive Care of Hòa Bình General Hospital.

Both Son and Luong were prosecuted for “lacking responsibility causing serious consequences.”

According to the indictment of the provincial People’s Procuracy, Quoc had repaired and maintained the RO filter system of the dialysis machines. During the process, however, the machines’ water supply tubes were not purified carefully, leaving a chemical residue.

After the pasteurisation of the RO filter system, Quoc failed to check the quality of water samples before handing the system over to the hospital. He was charged with “unintentionally causing deaths.”

Son, 28, who was in charge of checking and supervising the replacement and maintenance of the filter system, failed to complete his assigned tasks. Nephrologist Luong, 32, allowed the dialysis treatment to commence without checking the water quality of the machines.