Newborn baby dies, hospital is surrounded | Look At Vietnam

Newborn baby dies, hospital is surrounded

May 24, 2012

LookAtVietnam – A newborn baby died on the operating table at a clinic in Hanoi on night of May 22. Hundreds of people sieged the hospital, asking for an investigation.

The father was fainted at the hospital.

The expectant mother, named Thuy Dung, was hospitalized to Van Dinh Clinic in the early morning of May 23. Doctors diagnosed that both the mother and the child were normal and the woman could give birth naturally.
At 2am of May 23, Dung began labor. The woman suffered from severe pain. The woman’s family asked doctors to perform Caesarian.
Doctors examined again and detected that the child in womb was in dangerous state. The family kept asking doctors to carry out Caesarian, but not until 5am was the woman moved to the operating room.
Around 30 minutes later, doctors informed the family that the baby was in critical situation. “They (doctors) told that my son’s survival ability was only 50 percent. I ran into the operating room and saw my baby turned blue. At that time, my son was not cleaned yet. My mother-in-law had to wipe him by a towel,” Dung’s husband told correspondents.
The family said that the baby had been dead before the operation. They asked the hospital to investigate the case.
The family, their relatives and neighbors, totaling over 100 people, surrounded the hospital. Some could not remain calm and managed to beat doctors.
The body of the infant baby was placed in front of the hospital’s front room.

Rise in maternal deaths raises concerns in Vietnam Over the past month, 10 local women have died of pregnancy-related causes, though they were in good health before giving birth.
Three of the cases are believed to be associated with Amniotic Fluid Embolism (AFE), a difficult-to-treat obstetric complication, even when being treated abroad.
However, most of the deaths are linked to human error or irresponsibility.
A report to the Ministry of Health over the death of pregnant 39-year-old N.T.M.H, who was admitted to Quang Ngai hospital on April 21, shows the woman did not have any health problems except for suffering some bleeding from her vagina. She was diagnosed to have a premature delivery of a 36-week baby.
Four hours after being hospitalized, the woman suffered headaches, dizziness, high-blood pressure, and prenatal problems.
The mother-to-be was transferred to the operating room 20 minutes later when she gave birth to a 1.7kg baby girl, who died soon after.
By April 30, the mother died of multiple scratches on the vesica, cervix , and vagina.
Another fatal case was that of N.T.T.T, who died of severe bleeding after delivering a baby boy at a hospital in the southern province of Dong Nai on May 2.
Some experts from Dong Nai’s Department of Health claimed T. suffered a complication during childbirth that caused excessive bleeding. The patient’s relatives were asked to buy extra blood at another hospital, some kilometers away. Yet the doctors failed to save her life.
Statistics released by the Ministry of Health’s Department of Mother and Child Health Protection shows that Vietnam has one of the highest maternal death rates in the world, with 69 deaths per 100,000. The government hopes to reduce the number to 59.3 deaths per 100,000 by 2015.
According to several experts, difficult terrain for traveling, poor access to advanced medical equipment, and belief in backwards customs and habits among some ethnic minorities are strongly linked to maternal deaths.
Some blame the deaths on low budgets. Luu Thi Hong, the department’s deputy chief, said each province or city in Vietnam annually receives a couple hundred million dong from the national budget for maternal care.
Some say illogicality in designing working-shifts at some major hospitals plays a big role in the deaths.
A 2011 survey by the Ministry of Health shows among 30 hospitals questioned, 93 percent admitted to assigning their staff to work 24/7 with a strong focus on day shifts. The survey shows on average a nurse takes care of 6.5 patients each day shift while her counterpart has to care for 23 patients each night shift.
By chance, most obstetric complications over the past month have happened at night.
When asked what the major causes of the maternal deaths are, a senior official of the department, who wanted to be anonymous, said: “From now to this year-end, there will be fewer deaths.”
According to the official, both sides – hospitals and pregnant women – are responsible for the deaths.
“Did you know that of the women who died of pregnancy -related complications, many had a third child? They were found at fault. We did not want to talk about it because it’s a sensitive matter. Don’t ask what the cause is, it’s not constructive,” she said.
Some medical errors that may be related to professional practice have been considered as unavoidable at many hospitals in which patients’ relatives are “assigned” as nurses and doctors and asked to replace IVs or put food into patients’ body through a tube.

Ngoc Anh

34 face charges in southern Vietnam health scandal 

November 3, 2011  about Social

The front door of Dr Nguyen Duy Tu's house in Ca Mau Province was broken by a crowd furious over a teenage girl's death.

Police in the southern province of Ca Mau have asked prosecutors to charge 34 people for attacking local doctors’ houses in protest of their irresponsibility in the death of a 17-year-old girl in June, Tuoi Tre reported on October 26.
Le Thanh Son, chief of Nam Can District’s police division, said in the newspaper that the people face charges of “disrupting public disorder,” “deliberately damaging others’ properties,” and “acting against people who are on public mission.”
According to police’s findings, on June 28, Duong Thi Thu Huyen was brought to Nam Can District’s General Hospital in a coma after falling from a motorbike ridden by 24-year-old Le Quoc Lo.
Huyen fell while trying to stop Lo, who attempted to rape her, police said.
After a checkup, doctors concluded Huyen was fine, but she died the next day from brain injury.
Later, Huyen’s family together with locals took her body to the hospital, damaging the hospital and the houses of Tran Thien Thanh, director of the hospital, and Nguyen Duy Tu, who was on duty the day she was hospitalized.
In a report published on October 26, newswire Vietnamnet said the group’s outrage was provoked by Nguyen Hoang Long, 35.

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During the attack on the doctors’ houses, protestors also stole money and gold, causing damages worth more than VND400 million (US$19,120), the newswire reported.
Following the incident, Ca Mau province’s Department of Health suspended Tu for one year. Two other doctors and two health workers received warnings.
According to Tuoi Tre, police also have asked provincial prosecutors to charge Lo with “statutory rape.”

Thanh Nien News

Turns down $50,000 to donate kidney to poor girl

Samaritan turns down $50,000 to donate kidney to a poor girl 

January 10, 2011  about Sci-Tech

Vu Quoc Tuan at the 8th national patriot festival in Hanoi.

Vu Quoc Tuan has not had an easy life himself, but is firmly in the business of saving lives -  and expects no reward in return.
His incredible humanity has seen him donate a kidney to a poor girl for free, refusing an offer of US$50,000 made by a better-off family.
Tuan’s story came to light when the 38-year-old native of Phu Tho was honoured at the 8th National Patriots Festival held in Hanoi  on Monday (December 27).
He was working as a guard at the Hanoi Children’s Hospital when Tuan was moved on seeing Ta Thi Thu Ha, 18, the same age as his daughter, struggling with kidney failure. It was the year 2008 and Ha had been suffering for at least six years then.
Learning that the family was poor, with the father a war invalid and the mother the sole breadwinner working as a vendor, he decided to give the girl one of his own kidneys.
When he started to undergo examinations in March 2008 to prepare for the surgery, a family from nearby Hai Phong visited him and offered to pay $50,000 for the kidney, but Tuan told them he had to give it to a niece.
“You have money, so you can find [the kidney] at many places, but if I don’t give the kidney to my niece, she will die,” Tuan said.
Tuan was born to a poor farming family and quit college after one month to take care of his family after his father died of sickness. He said he has been working different jobs around the northern region, thus has a special sympathy for poor people.
Doctors at the hospital were surprised by his decision to donate. No one that they know of had ever donated a kidney to a total stranger.
The donation was made after more than 60 tests were done between March and October 2008, during which time Tuan had to undergo the pain of needles several times, including into his spinal cord.
He had to borrow money to raise his children during the period as the examinations kept him too busy to go to work. His wife, a guest worker in Malaysia, was also struggling there because of the global economic crisis.
The transplant was successful but Tuan didn’t accept a single dong from Ha’s family, though they wished to give him some to help his recovery.
He now has a desk job at the Mechanics Company No.17 under the Ministry of Defense. The company director, Chu The Thinh, offered him the job after the surgery weakened him and he could no longer afford to do hard labor.
Not the first time
Tuan’s job as a guard at the Children’s Hospital was also the result of his second nature - helping others in trouble.
In 2007, he saved a child from two fighting buffalos on the street and was hospitalized with rib fractures.
At the hospital, Tuan offered to donate blood to a girl who needed an emergency operation. The hospital was short of blood, and Tuan, being a universal donor (O group), gladly donated his. The girl’s family found out where he lived and tried to pay him, but he refused. So they helped him get the position.
When working as a hospital guard, Tuan has been known for helping patients’ relatives look for rental homes.
Earlier, when working at construction sites, Tuan had several times carried pregnant women to the hospital for delivery.
And when he was a xe om driver, he often transported poor people for free.
“Every time I see a person in need of help, I just think that if I don’t do anything, they will die. I myself am unhappy, so I understand their situation,” Tuan said.

Source: Thanh Nien 

Babies without teeth -

Saturday, 08/05/2010
VietNamNet Bridge – A family in HCM City has two boys who don’t have any teeth, like their maternal grandfather.
Nguyen Trong Nhan, 6, and his cousin, Nguyen Khac Thong, 9 don’t have teeth.
Mr. Nguyen Van Loi, 57, has five grandchildren, two boys and three girls, but only two boys don’t have teeth, Nguyen Trong Nhan, 6, and his cousin, Nguyen Khac Thong, 9. This is a genetic disease of Loi’s family, which only affects boys. Other men in this family don’t have teeth.
Thinking that this is a heredity disease, the family has not brought their children to hospital.
Nhan’s mother said that it is very hard to take care of a “no-tooth boy”. She has to grind up all kind of food to feed her son. She said her son and his cousin like watching other people chewing.

Doctor Hua Xuan Hoa from the HCM City Dentistry and Facial Hospital said that this is a very rare disorder in Vietnam and the world. Doctors made scans for the two boys and they didn’t see dental systems at all. The boys will have to use false teeth. However, this would be a difficult to learn because they have never used teeth."

Doctors accused of illegally profiting off cancer treatment

Doctors at a Hanoi hospital have been accused of cashing in by forcing cancer patients to use expensive equipment rather than the facilities their insurance policies allow them to use for free.

In 2000, K Hospital, or the National Cancer Institute, bought radiation equipment for US$1.4 million and has spent around $60,000 a year since then on its maintenance.

The public hospital now offers treatment for an average of 150 cancer patients per day and state insurance holders don't have to pay to use the equipment.

But as demand grew in 2006, the hospital cooperated with the Cancer Medical Equipment JSC to invest in more radiation equipment. All patients have to pay to use the joint venture's equipment, even holders of state insurance policies.

Recently, several patients reported that the hospital has claimed that the free equipment was broken, thus sending the sick to use the facilities they must pay for out of their own pocket.

The situation has drawn the ire of one of the doctors at the hospital, who wished to remain anonymous. He said he suspected it was a scheme in which medical workers were colluding to make commissions off the pay-only equipment.

"Why has the hospital equipment been broken down continuously when it has also been under maintenance for billions of dong a year?" he asked.

A patient from Nam Dinh Province undergoing treatment for breast cancer at the hospital, said she used to use the hospital's normal equipment for free. But she now complained of the high fees she had to pay for the joint venture's equipment.

Several other patients have made similar complaints.

Breakdowns

The hospital radiation equipment began to break down regularly once the Cancer Medical Equipment company's facilities were installed. The normal equipment broke down 127 times in 2007, according to hospital records.

A hospital technician said the machines had errors regularly and that repairs often took up to a week.

However, a breakdown in 2008 reportedly forced it out of operation for several months before resuming early this year.

In 2009, the device broke down several times, and the number of

Kbeing treated with it reduced from 150 patients to 80 patients a day. State insurance holders who have no choice other than to use the venture's equipment are now charged around VND13 million ($760) per treatment.

Kickbacks

Ministry of Health inspectors recently inspected the hospital after several complaints from patients.

The ministry said there was no evidence of doctors forcing patients to use the expensive equipment.

However, Thanh Nien reporters found doctors had received money from the Cancer Medical Equipment JSC and couldn't explain why.

According to the agreement between both sides, the hospital and the company split the fees from the equipment 30-70, respectively.

However, Thanh Nien obtained documents showing the company had in turn paid doctors 10 percent from its 70 percent as a kickback. The documents even noted the 10 percent as commission for assigning patients to use the Cancer Medical Equipment devices.

In April this year, the company collected more than VND774 million in fees from the devices and had to pay the hospital doctors VND77 million. The doctors' commission was VND82 million in total in May alone.

Le Duc Thang, director of the Cancer Medical Equipment JSC, said the company's accountant had mistakenly noted the money as "commission for assigning patients."

He said it was actually overtime pay for the doctors.

But the documents had noted payment for extra-hours in a section separate from the commission records.

Thang again blamed the accountant when asked by Thanh Nien to explain the two different payments.

The paper's investigation also found the commissions had been paid since 2006 when the equipment began operating. Many shareholders of the Cancer Medical Equipment JSC have also asked questions about this payment.

In a notice to its shareholders, the company said that after consulting with the hospital it had decided that the doctors fees would be reduced to VND50,000 per each patient treated with the device from September in 2007.

However, the fees then increased to 10 percent again in 2008.

Thanh also said payment for extra-hours had been transferred directly to doctors' bank accounts.

He also said the company was currently paying the doctors VND22,000 per patient for "overtime."

However, Thanh Nien found some doctors had collected up to VND15 million a month for overtime.

Dr. Dang The Can, K Hospital's vice director, said Wednesday the hospital was not aware of any payment for doctors' overtime, but said that [the overtime payment] was "a big amount."

He also admitted that some doctors had contributed their own funds to invest in the venture's equipment.

Local kidney seller dies after two months

A 22-year-old man, who has been in a vegetative state for months after allegedly selling a kidney in China, passed away in his hometown in the south central province of Ninh Thuan Saturday.


In early May, To Cong Luan was transferred back to the province from Ho Chi Minh City-based Cho Ray Hospital as doctors couldn’t cure him.

His father, To Cong Son, said Luan’s health showed improvements in the last 20 days, but his conditions suddenly worsened on the last day.

He had even managed to eat a little soup instead of receiving food via tubes as before, said Son.

The father called on relevant authorities to speed up a probe into the alleged kidney sale racket in China which was the main reason for the young man’s death.

Last month, Son had petitioned the HCMC Police Department and the Prosecutors’ Office to investigate the case.

According to family and acquaintances, Luan, who was a college student in HCMC and also a hemophiliac, went to China late last year and had his left kidney removed.

He was transported back to HCMC in April by his girlfriend with many incisions on his belly.

Last month, the Medical Service Administration requested the city’s Health Department to confirm whether Luan’s case violated the law and investigate the existence of kidney trade rings in the city.

Earlier this year, police in the southern province of Soc Trang began investigating an alleged ring sending local people to China to sell kidneys, but no conclusions from the case have been made available.

Statistics by the Ministry of Health reveal Vietnam has 5,000-6,000 people suffering chronic kidney failure in the final stage who are in critical need of kidney transplant.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Reported by L. Truong

Vietnam heroin charges for Victorian woman

A VICTORIAN woman has been arrested in southern Vietnam after she collapsed with heroin in her stomach, state media reported.

Tran Thi Ngoc Dung, 35, was leaving her hotel in Ho Chi Minh City on her way to a flight home on Sunday when she fell unconscious and was rushed to hospital, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said.

Doctors found she had two condoms full of heroin in her stomach and one of them had burst, the paper said.

Ms Dung was still in the hospital but had been put under arrest.

It was unclear how much heroin she was carrying.

Vietnam has some of the world's harshest drug laws.

Possession of 600g or more of heroin is punishable by death.

About a dozen Vietnamese-Australians have been in court in Vietnam for heroin trafficking in recent years.

At least four have had their death sentences commuted because of lobbying by the Australian Government.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said yesterday: "The Australian Consulate-General in Ho Chi Minh City is seeking to confirm media reports that the woman will be arrested on drug charges