The people's hospital in Dongtai, Jiangsu Province where 69 patients were infected with HCV during dialysis treatment. Photo: Leng Shumei/GT

A total of 16 executives and officials in Dongtai, East China's Jiangsu Provinc, were punished after 69 patients were infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) over the hospital's malpractice, China Central Television (CCTV) reported late Monday.

The incident happened at the people's hospital of Dongtai where 69 patients were infected with HCV during dialysis treatment in the hospital from April to May, media reports said.

The hospital's management system had not been properly implemented, causing the infection, according to an official statement from the local government on Monday.

Two executives of the hospital, including the president and Party secretary Yin Weiguo and a deputy director Song Xiaoping were fired. Another 14 officials from local government were punished, CCTV reported.

Dongtai is carrying out a city-wide inspection to eliminate the risk of infection, CCTV said.

All infected patients, aged between 26 and 77, are being treated and in stable condition, CCTV reported, citing Chu Xudong, director of the hospital's infectious diseases department.

An anonymous doctor from the hospital told the Global Times that those patients are given a one-to-one treatment at the Dongtai hospital. The dialysis clinic has stopped operating as of press time.

The incident was mainly caused by non-standard operations during the disinfection process, Dongtai health offcial Cao Guoping told CCTV. 

The hospital is understaffed. Each nurse has to take care of at least nine dialysis instruments, with the standard being six, Cao said.

An isolated area for patients infected with HCV is also lacking, so they have to conduct dialysis in the same area with those who are not infected, according to Cao.

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by HCV that primarily affects the liver. During the initial infection, people often have mild to no symptoms, but over the years, it often leads to liver diseases and occasionally cirrhosis.

Patients suffering from HCV can be cured, a doctor, surnamed Fang, who specializes in dialysis, told the Global Times on Monday.  

As early as 2010, the national ministry of health has required patients carrying hepatitis b, HCV, treponema pallidum and HIV to undergo dialysis in isolated dialysis treatment areas, in a bid to reduce the infection ratio.

But incidents similar to the Dongtai case kept occurring in the country. 

Between 2009 and 2011, hospitals in Shanxi, Anhui, Henan and Liaoning provinces had found incidents of patients being infected with HCV while undergoing dialysis, China News Weekly reported.

In 2016, 39 patients from a county hospital in Shaanxi Province got infected with HCV because the clinic did not isolate patients with HCV and hepatitis b, and many shared the same heparin syringe, media reported.

Management loopholes and some medical instruments being repeatedly used caused those infections, media said.
Newspaper headline: Hepatitis C infects 69 at E.China hospital