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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority Head Office today (May 14) issued an alert to all public hospital pharmacies after receiving a report from Prince of Wales Hospital pharmacy yesterday afternoon that four tablets of Metamizole were found in four bottles of Phenytoin 100mg tablets (an epilepsy drug) of batch number P130202.
There has been no report of similar incident in other public hospital pharmacies so far.
The HA spokesperson said that as a precautionary measure, public hospitals and clinics have started to contact the patients dispensed with the affected drugs. According to the dispensing record, there are around 2 000 patients dispensed with the affected drugs.
"The Metamizole tablet is of different size and shape as compared with Phenytoin 100 mg tablet and is easily identified visually," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that chances of taking the drug by mistake are slim.
Patients are advised to check their bottle of drugs in hand for any odd-size tablets or contact the hospital pharmacies if in doubt. They can exchange the bottle of drugs at the hospital pharmacies should it be mixed with odd-size tablets.
Metamizole is not a registered drug nor available in Hong Kong. It is used for fever and pain control.
HA has reported the incident to the Department of Health and will continue to follow up the incident with the pharmaceutical company.
Ends/Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Issued at HKT 22:15
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