Dr. Hoang Cong Luong speaks his final words, affirming his innocence.

The three defendants were given the last word, all three sent their deepest condolences to the families of the nine deceased victims and shared the physical and mental pain of the affected patients, thanking the families for their pleas for leniency in the defendants' sentences.

Defendant Hoang Cong Luong said that in the dialysis accident, the most painful thing for him and the medical staff at the hospital was not being able to save all the patients.

“After 12 days of the first instance trial, the defendant asserted that he was completely innocent. He respectfully asked the panel of judges to review the verdict of the case impartially and objectively, to avoid wrongful convictions, and to declare the defendant not guilty so that he would have the opportunity to continue his medical work and so that medical staff across the country would always have confidence in the law and feel secure in examining and treating patients,” defendant Luong said.

Defendant Bui Manh Quoc (former director of Tram Anh company) frankly admitted that since the incident occurred, he was very aware of the extent of his fault.

Therefore, the defendant hopes that the panel of judges will consider the most objective circumstances leading to the defendant's fault, based on mitigating circumstances and the situation of being the main breadwinner in the house to give the lowest penalty, helping the defendant to soon have time to take care of his wife and children.

Startle warning

In his final statement, defendant Tran Van Son (former officer of the Hospital's Supplies Department) gave a rather startling warning.

Son said, the reality of the work the defendant is doing shows that not only the RO system is not quality checked before being put into use, but also the ventilators, anesthesia machines... after repair are only handed over from the company, then handed over to the department for use.

The defendant affirmed that no agency or unit inspected the equipment after repair.

“After the case, the defendant thought that after repair, medical equipment needed to have an inspection unit so that those working in the field of equipment could control the quality. Other hospitals also did not have any engineers who could check the quality of equipment,” defendant Son said.

Finally, defendant Son asked the panel of judges to reduce the sentence to the lowest level, so that the defendant can soon return to society, quickly overcome the consequences and become a useful person to society.

After about 20 minutes of deliberation, the panel of judges said that the case had many complicated details and would announce the verdict at 2:00 p.m. on June 5.