Several hospital officials in East China's Shandong province have been fired after nine patients were accidentally infected with hepatitis B through medical malpractice.

The head and deputy head of the People's Hospital in Chengyang district of Qingdao have been removed from their administrative and the Communist Party of China posts, according to the district government.

The director of the hospital's infection-control and nursing departments, and the director and nursing head of the hemodialysis unit, have also been removed from their posts. Other implicated staff members have been disciplined.

The incident occurred in January. However, the public didn't know about it until Feb 9, when a document released by Health and Family Planning Commission of Shandong province was circulated on Sina Weibo.

Chengyang district said the district's health and family planning bureau received a report about nine patients infected by hepatitis B on Jan 19. Investigators later found that it was staff with the hospital's hemodialysis unit who operated against regulations that led to the infections. The patients are receiving treatment and are stable.

Another hepatitis C virus outbreak caused by malpractice by a hospital's hemodialysis unit happened in February last year, at Zhen'an county hospital in Shangluo, Shaanxi province. Twenty-six patients were confirmed infected. The director and deputy director were removed from their positions, and 13 others were punished.