Recently, in China, there has been chaos in drug management. In a medical hospital in Huixian City, Henan Province, patients were given expired drugs, sparking doubts and concerns among the public. Prior to this incident, a hospital for elderly patients in Jiangsu was penalized for mixing expired drugs with regular ones.
On July 14th, the Health Commission of Huixian City, Henan Province, issued a public announcement stating that on the 13th, family members of patients reported that the hospital had distributed expired drugs to patients. During a CT scan, a patient received an injection that had been expired for over 8 months, with the expiration date on the bottle showing November 7, 2024. The Health Commission of Huixian City has initiated an investigation into this matter.
The investigation revealed that there were loopholes in drug management in the hospital’s Intervention Department, where staff members failed to follow the hospital’s medication dispensing protocols and unknowingly gave a bottle of expired medication to a patient’s family member. When the staff in the CT room checked the medication, they found it to be expired. After explaining the situation to the family member, they replaced the medication with a qualified one for the patient’s use. The official report stated that the head nurse and the medication management nurse in the Intervention Department have been suspended, and the hospital is under investigation.
Some netizens expressed that medications are crucial to health and life, and hospitals should be the most rigorous and trustworthy places. This incident has exposed management loopholes and a disregard for the health of patients.
Others mentioned that contrast agents like iohexol are usually prepared in advance in the CT room, and patients do not have to go to the pharmacy after payment but can directly go to the CT preparation area for the injection. Hence, both the CT room staff and the pharmacy have management responsibilities.
Furthermore, some netizens questioned why the head nurse and the nurses from the pharmacy were suspended when it was the hospital’s pharmacy that dispensed the expired drugs, indicating a lack of clarity in the hospital’s management practices.
This is not the first time that Chinese hospitals have used expired drugs. According to a report by mainland Chinese media on June 18th, an elderly patient hospital in Jiangsu’s Sihong County was penalized for mixing expired drugs with regular ones. Law enforcement officers discovered 17 bottles of expired “Neng Quanli” enteral nutrition suspension mixed with regular medications in their pharmacy, with no distinct labeling, suggesting the use of substandard drugs.
There are reports circulating online that Sihong County Elderly Patient Hospital is also facing a debt of 44 million yuan, which has led to the hospital’s inability to operate normally, resulting in a notice of mass dismissal. According to a nurse named Zhang who has worked at the hospital for many years, the notice was issued due to months of unpaid wages and incomplete social security payments by the former hospital. With 200 staff members, dozens have already resigned. Zhang stated that she does not agree with the hospital’s proposed solution and has reported the issue to the relevant labor department. The labor bureau has intervened through arbitration. Despite the ongoing operations of the hospital, she believes the hospital’s actions are aimed at downsizing.
Public information indicates that the hospital was established in 2001 and is the first privately-owned non-profit medical institution in Sihong County after restructuring. Hospital staff members have confirmed that the hospital will continue to operate.