Hospital staff reprimanded for abandoning patient

The Health Department in the northern province of Hai Duong has directed a local psychiatric hospital to impose stiff penalties on two staff members for allegedly abandoning a patient two weeks ago.

Earlier this month, orderly Hoang Dinh Tien and driver Nguyen Dang Don, both employed by the Hai Duong Mental Hospital, reportedly left a patient by the side of the road who they had been assigned to escort to the province’s Ngu Phuc Commune.

On September 27, patient Pham Van Duong was admitted to the Hai Duong General Hospital after falling into a ditch. He purportedly suffered a temporary loss of memory and was transferred

to the Hai Duong Mental Hospital where he regained his memory and provided staff with his personal information.

On October 2, the hospital assigned Tien and Don to return the patient to his family in Ngu Phuc Commune. The family and local commune authorities, however, refused to take Duong back.

The two staff members then brought Duong to a remote area in adjacent Hai Phong City, nearly 50 kilometers from Hai Duong.

Tien and Don were witnessed carrying Duong onto a street in Phi Xa Hamlet where they left him and drove off.

Enraged witnesses informed local authorities of the case.

Source: SGGP

Update from: http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=42820