TAIPEI: Taiwan's health ministry said a scandal this
summer involving five patients who received organs from an HIV
positive donor may have tarnished the global reputation of the
island's medical profession.
The head of National Taiwan University Hospital's transplant team
failed to properly check the donor's HIV test results, while lab
technicians who knew of the results did not pass on the
information, a ministry report said.
"This case was not just a shock for Taiwan society, but may also
have impacted the global image of Taiwan medicine," said the
report, released on the ministry's website late Thursday.
Of the five organ recipients, three have been discharged from
hospital, and none has so far tested positive for HIV, according to
local media.
The family of a 38-year-old man, surnamed Chiu, decided to donate
his organs after he fell to his death in August, unaware that he
was an HIV carrier.
Medical technicians performing standard blood tests found that Chiu
was HIV positive before his liver, lungs and kidneys were
harvested.
But the message was wrongly relayed and doctors were given the
green light to carry out the operations. Health officials have
called the cases "critical medical negligence".
- AFP/cc