Hospital Authority announces an incident of software problem in pathological test equipment
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The Hospital Authority (HA) spokesperson today (23 June) announced the following incident of software problem in pathological test equipment:
The HA received notification from Abbott Laboratories Limited (Abbott) on June 18 about a software issue in the pathological test equipment "Alinity ci-series System". The software problem may cause incorrect patient results if the equipment is stopped and then restarted under a particular start-up procedure.
There are a total of 13 Alinity ci-series analysers in the HA, which are installed at Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH), Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) and Tuen Mun Hospital (TMH).
The supplier's engineers and hospitals concerned have reviewed the system logs and testing procedures of all the equipment concerned from June 2018 onwards, which was the service period of these equipment.
The spokesperson pointed out that all test results of PWH were unaffected at PWH.
"In PMH, there are 102 tests involved, which are mainly for hepatitis and HIV serology testing. Among the tests, results of 67 tests have been reconfirmed correct. There are also 35 tests involving 22 patients that require further review on the need of retesting. The hospital will approach the patients to explain the necessary follow-up arrangement in due course."
"In TMH, there are 92 tumour marker and other tests involving 86 patients that require further review on the need for retesting. The review by clinicians is underway and the patients will be approached for the necessary arrangement accordingly," the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, all hospitals will adopt necessary procedural steps in using the equipment as recommended by the supplier to mitigate the issue until the software upgrade is available. The HA has reported the incident to the Department of Health.
Ends/Sunday, June 23, 2019
Issued at HKT 17:52
Issued at HKT 17:52
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