Eighteen doctors and health workers at an obstetrics and gynecology hospital in Hanoi have been exposed to HIV from an emergency operation performed on a woman who has the virus.

>> An audio version of the story is available here The patient, N.T.H., hailing from the northern province of Quang Ninh, was taken to the emergency ward of Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital on July 4 after developing a severe hemorrhage in her vagina, Dr. Luu Quoc Khai, head of the Obstetrics Department of the infirmary, said. After an examination, doctors found that H. was in critical condition with great loss of blood, and her heart was beginning to fail.

Dr. Khai decided to perform surgery to cut her uterus in the emergency ward to save her, instead of bringing her to the operating room as usual, news website VnExpress quoted the doctor as saying. The uterus had been in necrosis and could not be kept.

If it had not been cut immediately, the patient would have suffered blood poisoning and she would not have survived, VietNamNet newswire cited Dr. Khai as saying.

Before arriving at the hospital, the woman was given first aid in the northern province of Hung Yen, where she developed the violent hemorrhage while on the way from Quang Ninh to the capital the same day, Dr. Khai said. When the operation was underway, a test on H.’s blood sample showed that she was infected with the deadly HIV virus. Despite this news, the operating team continued their work until the surgery was completed, Dr. Khai said. Meanwhile, the health workers on the team had not been wearing protective clothing against an HIV infection, as the patient's condition required urgent assistance, the doctor said. If the operation had been carried out one or two minutes later, the woman could have died, VietNamNet quoted Dr. Khai as saying. H. received a transfusion of four liters of blood during the operation. The woman later recovered and was discharged on Wednesday, newswire Dan Viet reported, adding that H. and her family extended their apologies to the 18 health workers taking part in her operation. That these health workers were exposed to HIV was her fault, H. said. “My family doesn’t know what to do to make up for this risk of HIV infection to these healthcare workers,” Dan Viet quoted H. as saying. The woman said she was infected with the virus after getting married, adding that her husband died of HIV/AIDS 11 years ago. On July 4, she took her 12 year-old son to Hanoi to visit her relatives. While suffering a serious hemorrhage in Hung Yen, her son called her relatives, who came and took her to a local hospital for first aid before being transferred to the capital city, H. said. All 18 doctors and health workers, of whom three are pregnant, have been examined and are being treated under a plan for people exposed to HIV, VnExpress quoted Dr. Nguyen Duy Anh, director of the Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, as saying. Currently, these doctors and health workers are working normally, and after three months, they will be tested to determine whether they have been infected with the virus, Dr. Anh said, adding that “the possibility of infection is very low.”

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