HCM CITY — The Ministry of Health has ordered hospitals and clinics to stop using a tissue-staining agent which is suspected to have infected at least 30 eye-surgery patients in southern Viet Nam.

It has also asked Viet My Mechanical Equipment Company in HCM City's Go Vap District, which imports and distributes Trypan Blue block SV9025, to pull it out of the market.

Indian pharmaceutical company Khosla, which makes the agent, has been ordered to inform distributors and users about its side effects and collaborate with health authorities in investigations.

Last month 22 patients developed bruises and pus in their eyes following surgery at the HCM City-based Eye Hospital.

More than 10 others were hospitalised in Dong Nai, An Giang, and Lam Dong Provinces with the same problem.

The agent has since tested positive for the blue-pus bacillus which is said to cause the infection.

Out of 22 people who contracted the infection at the Eye Hospital, 15 are still undergoing treatment, with most making good progress.

But two of them are likely to lose their sight, according to Tran Thi Phuong Thu, the hospital director. — VNS