HANOI – Vietnamese government on Wednesday said a nurse at a hospital in central Vietnam admitted killing three newborn babies by injecting them with anesthetic instead of a hepatitis B vaccine in error.
Nguyen Thi Thuan, a nurse at Huong Hoa District General Hospital in Quang Tri province, was charged with accidentally causing human death due to a breach of professional regulation.
Nguyen Van-Loi, Provincial Police spokesman, said the case had sparked public outrage.
He said Thuan after her arrest last week, admitted injecting Esmeron, a medicine commonly used as a general anesthetic.
Van-Loi said the charge carries a maximum penalty of 12 years in jail.
He said the deaths occurred in July last year and Thuan was arrested briefly at the time but was released after she insisted that she administered the vaccine correctly.
Van-Loi said the Ministry of Health suspended use of the vaccine for five months in the wake of the children’s deaths. (dpa/NAN)
