Seventeen doctors and health workers at a healthcare centre in the central highlands province of Kon Tum have been exposed to HIV while giving emergency aid to a traffic accident victim who has the virus.

Four people were killed and 12 others injured after two passenger buses collided in Kon Tum Province on June 30.

Kon Tum Provincial Department of Health said that all the 17 doctors and health workers together with seven local people who helped transport the victim to hospital have been examined and are being treated under a plan for people exposed to HIV.

According a report by the department, on June 30, a collision between two passenger buses injured 15 people and killed one.

Three more people including an HIV-infected woman died later while being treated at Dak Ha District's Healthcare Centre.

Deputy head of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Department, Hoang Dinh Canh, said that they have been closely monitoring and instructing the treatment for the 24 victims right after the incident was reported.

dtinews