A tissue-staining agent used to highlight eye structure during surgery was the cause of the infection that has made four people lose their eyesight, a director of the HCM City-based Eye Hospital said on Tuesday.
The agent, Trypan Blue block SV9025, carried the blue-pus bacilli, Tran Thi Phuong Thu quoted the Ministry of Health's Department of Medicine Testing as saying. Thus, her hospital was not responsible for the post-surgery infections in 22 patients, she said.
Thirteen out of the 22 had recovered and been discharged while five others were making steady prog-ress, she said.
Of the four remaining patients who still could not see, one was so seriously infected that one of his eyes had to be removed, she revealed.
The hospital would ask the chemical producer, Indian pharmaceutical company Khosla, to acknowledge its responsibility and compensate the victims.
Neither Khosla nor the Go Vap district-based Viet My Mechanical Equipment Company, which imports and distributes the agent, has taken any action yet.
Thu said the patients were treated and provided drugs free of charge and their surgery fees had been reimbursed.
"For now, we're focusing on the patients. We will seek compensation from the producer and distributor later."
Experts say the tissue-staining agent must be sterilised before being used for surgery since conditions in the human eyes are conducive for the development of bacteria./.
The agent, Trypan Blue block SV9025, carried the blue-pus bacilli, Tran Thi Phuong Thu quoted the Ministry of Health's Department of Medicine Testing as saying. Thus, her hospital was not responsible for the post-surgery infections in 22 patients, she said.
Thirteen out of the 22 had recovered and been discharged while five others were making steady prog-ress, she said.
Of the four remaining patients who still could not see, one was so seriously infected that one of his eyes had to be removed, she revealed.
The hospital would ask the chemical producer, Indian pharmaceutical company Khosla, to acknowledge its responsibility and compensate the victims.
Neither Khosla nor the Go Vap district-based Viet My Mechanical Equipment Company, which imports and distributes the agent, has taken any action yet.
Thu said the patients were treated and provided drugs free of charge and their surgery fees had been reimbursed.
"For now, we're focusing on the patients. We will seek compensation from the producer and distributor later."
Experts say the tissue-staining agent must be sterilised before being used for surgery since conditions in the human eyes are conducive for the development of bacteria./.
