By Brendan Riley
Associated Press
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press
CARSON CITY, Nev. — State health officials on Thursday completed inspections of all but two of 50 Nevada clinics checked following an outbreak of hepatitis C in six patients who went to a Las Vegas endoscopy center.
Seven of the inspected clinics had “major infection control problems, such as the reuse of single-dose vials,” according to a release from Gov. Jim Gibbons’ office. Two others had “medium-level” issues such as sterilization problems, 17 had minor problems and the rest had no deficiencies.
“Our goal in conducting these inspections so quickly was to assure the public that their safety is primary and that known medical concerns are addressed,” Gibbons stated.
Gibbons and Mike Willden, head of the state Department of Health and Human Services, also said corrections were made immediately, before inspectors left, in all but one of the clinics.
The two clinics that weren’t inspected included one that has had its business license revoked and another that’s closed due to remodeling.
Besides the six recent hepatitis C cases linked to the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, officials have learned of a seventh case of the bloodborne liver disease involving a patient at the Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center in mid-2006.
Both centers are among six clinics headed by Dr. Dipak Desai. The clinics that are part of Desai’s group either have been shut down or face operating restrictions pending the outcome of investigations into practices at the Endoscopy Center that may have contaminated vials of medication.
Notices were sent to 40,000 patients as a result of the recent outbreak, urging tests for hepatitis and HIV.
Gibbons wnts three doctors serving on the state Board of Medical Examiners to resign as part of his housecleaning efforts following the hepatitis outbreak. He also ordered the removal of the head of the state licensing bureau that oversees clinics including the endoscopy centers.
If the doctors don’t step down, Gibbons said he’ll move ahead with a legal effort to remove them for “cause.”
The panel members, Drs. Javaid Anwar, S. Daniel McBride and Sohail Anjum haven’t resigned yet, but did recuse themselves from any board meetings dealing with the endoscopy center. The medical board terms of Anjum and McBride run until mid-2009 while Anwar’s four-year term doesn’t expire until mid-2011.
McBride has termed the governor’s move “outrageous,” adding that he won’t step down and accusing Gibbons of playing politics. He said that if the Board of Medical Examiners seemed to move slowly on the hepatitis issue, it was because Gibbons’ Board of Licensure and Certification delayed informing the examiners’ panel until after stories of the problem broke.
Tony Clark, the medical board’s executive director who Gibbons also wants replaced, says he won’t step down at Gibbons’ request and instead will follow the direction of the board, which by state law decides whether he stays or goes.
Gibbons wants the three doctors replaced because of their associations or business dealings with Desai. He said Tuesday he wants a medical examiners board “that can vote on critical issues that go to the confidence of our health care system in Nevada.”
Gibbons also said he hadn’t spoken with Desai, who served on Gibbons’ health care transition team following the governor’s November 2006 election. He also served on the Board of Medical Examiners from 1993 to 2001. Desai has refused to answer questions about the outbreak.
The hepatitis outbreak sparked a massive health alert. Willden on Thursday thanked staffers from the federal Centers for Disease Control for their help in the survey of the 50 surgical centers.
Gibbons also has defended the Endoscopy Center, saying more cases of hepatitis C would have been discovered by now had its doctors and nurses been grossly negligent.