Woman dies at Chinese clinic, doctors disappear
A 34-year-old woman died at the Maria Clinic in Hanoi last Saturday, and the Chinese doctors who treated her disappeared after the incident, health authorities reported.
The victim was Nguyen Thi Thu Phong, of Hanoi’s Ha Dong District, who died at about 9:30 pm on July 14, said the Hanoi Health Department’s chief inspector, Nguyen Viet Cuong.
Within today, July 16, the department will issue a decision to suspend the clinic to investigate the death, Cuong said.
Phong arrived at the Maria Clinic, at 65 Thai Thinh, Dong Da District at about 6:50 pm Saturday for examination as she felt unwell after getting home from work.
Doctors at the clinic diagnosed Phong with cervicitis in cervical ectropion, vaginitis, and pelvic inflammatory disease. They then performed a blood test, an electrocardiogram test and transfused five bottles of fluid into her body, along with several other procedures.
A couple of hours later, after paying a total of VND8,670,000 (US$416) to the clinic, Phong felt very fatigued and called home about condition. But when her relatives came to the clinic, they couldn’t find any doctors, while Phong had died of unknown causes.
The victim’s relatives reported the case to district police, who came to the scene and after much delay met some people reported to be the managers of the clinic.
Colonel Bui Quang Dai, chief of the district police, told media that when police officers came to the rented houses of two doctors who had directly treated Phong, they found that the houses had been locked.
The police thus immediately proposed that competent agencies ban the two doctors from leaving Vietnam, Dai said.
The police have also summoned the leaders of the clinic for questioning and are coordinating with the department’s Inspectorate in investigating the cause of the death.
Category: Society
