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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The spokesperson of Tung Wah Hospital (TWH) made the following announcement today (March 10) on drug storage in refrigerators:
Following an incident of temperature display discrepancies that occurred in a pharmaceutical refrigerator of TWH General Outpatient Clinic in December 2013, the hospital identified two more refrigerators of the same brand but of different models having similar discrepancies.
After the incident in December, the hospital has increased the frequency of routine inspections of pharmaceutical refrigerators. At the same time, the Hospital Authority (HA) Head Office had carried out inspection on the affected model in all public hospitals to ascertain that the default settings of the fridges were correct and consistent between temperature displays and the temperature data loggers.
On March 4 and 8, routine inspections carried out respectively in two medical wards of TWH found that the temperature readings shown on the external displays were different from those recorded by the temperature loggers inside the pharmaceutical refrigerators. The refrigerators concerned are placed inside the wards for temporary and short-term drug storage for the use of inpatients.
In the two incidents, the temperature logger readings ranged from 0.5 degrees Celsius to 3 degrees Celsius and 8.5 degrees Celsius to 9 degrees Celsius respectively, which deviated slightly from the recommended temperature range of 2 degrees Celsius to 8 degrees Celsius. At the same time, temperature readings ranging from 3 degrees Celsius to 8 degrees Celsius were shown by the external displays all along.
After review by the experts on the drug information obtained from the suppliers and the clinical notes of the 14 patients who have been dispensed with the drugs stored in the refrigerators concerned during the period, it was confirmed that, given the slight temperature deviations, there should be no adverse effects on both the drugs and the patients.
Hong Kong West Cluster (HKWC) is very concerned about the recurrence of the discrepancies in the temperature displays and logs of the pharmaceutical refrigerators. TWH has reported the incidents to the HA Head Office, which has not received similar reports from other hospitals so far. The hospital has started to contact the patients concerned and their relatives to inform them about the incident and explain it to them. HKWC would set up an investigation panel to review the latest incidents in the light of the findings of the investigation report of the first incident that happened last December. The report will be submitted to the HA Head Office in eight weeks.
Ends/Monday, March 10, 2014
Issued at HKT 20:15
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