Statement of the Deputy Minister of Health on the Negah Ophthalmology Hospital Incident

In a statement, the Deputy Minister of Treatment of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, referring to the unfortunate incident of eye infection for 9 patients at Negah Ophthalmology Hospital, provided explanations about the handling of this incident.
In this regard, and for the sake of information and clarity on the subject, the following explanations are brought to the attention of dear citizens:
Following the occurrence of this incident and the appearance of symptoms of infection on the evening of October 10, according to the usual procedure and based on the protocols of the Ministry of Health, the report of infection was announced by the treating physicians to the hospital's management team and the treatment process of the patients was followed up by the hospital's technical officer, then on October 11, an emergency committee was formed with the presence of the officials of the vice chancellor of treatment of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and the hospital.
In the first necessary decision, the immediate closure of all operating rooms was imposed on October 11. The treatment of patients with infection was subjected to special investigation and rapid follow-up by the Ministry's Deputy for Treatment. On October 12, the university's expert team was stationed in the hospital to evaluate the possible factors involved in the infection and the results of their evaluation were sent to the reference laboratory. Unfortunately, out of 9 patients with infection at the time of discharge, 4 had vision loss to the level of light perception and 5 patients had vision loss to the extent of not understanding light.

On October 16, the treatment committee of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences was reconvened and the patients' condition was followed, and the infection control committee conducted the necessary scientific evaluations to discover the source of the infection. All operating rooms were closed for a week on October 11, and the restart of the operating rooms was subject to further expert investigations.
The operating room team was questioned by the deputy of treatment as well as the judicial authorities in order to further investigate and provide the necessary explanations in terms of the proper performance of responsibility, based on the decisions made, two members of the operating room staff as well as the technical officer of the hospital who were responsible for the possible error were suspended, and the judicial aspects of this issue are being pursued in the Medical Crimes Prosecutor's Office.
The Ministry of Health and Medical Education, emphasizing its responsibility to protect the health of citizens, will make every effort to reform procedures, improve safety standards, and the quality of medical services in the country to prevent such incidents from happening again.
The documents related to this incident and the investigations carried out have been posted in the information database of the Ministry of Health.