On November 12, Quang Tri General Hospital confirmed that from July to early October 2025, the hospital has performed endoscopic surgery on more than 500 patients. Of which, about 70 cases with signs of fluid drainage, pain, and delay in surgical incision after endoscopic surgery were detected.
Initial results showed that the lesions were all located in the abdominal wall, without spread, without fever, negative bacteria were tested, and initial assessment of the surgical wound infection of unknown cause was made.
Immediately afterwards, the hospital determined that these patients had undergone surgery in phong 2, so it temporarily suspended the operation of this operating room, disinfected the entire area, changed the method of disinfecting equipment, switched to the centralized disinfection method, and reviewed and adjusted the process in relevant departments.
From October 22 to November 11, the Professional Council and units will coordinate with the Vietnam Infection Control Association (Ministry of Health) to evaluate and analyze product samples. The cause of the incident was determined to be Nontuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) - a rare bacteria that causes surgical site infection.
Currently, there are about 50 patients being treated at Quang Tri General Hospital, the rest are being treated at Hue Central Hospital or at home. To thoroughly handle the situation, the hospital established a support team, treat and care for patients, directly visit and provide spiritual and material support to affected cases; at the same time, assigned surgeons to contact and monitor the health of patients who had endoscopic surgery in the period of July - October 2025 to provide timely support.
The most difficult thing is to determine the cause, so we have done it and now have controlled this type of bacteria to avoid recurrence. Currently, the hospital has established a team to contact all endoscopic surgical patients in the unit during the above period for examination. If there are signs of infection, they will be recommended to the hospital for treatment according to the prescribed regimen. We ensure that patients are not left behind, will support travel and treatment costs until recovery and leave no complications" - Mr. Phan Xuan Nam, Director of Quang Tri General Hospital said.
