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