Human error cannot be avoided in an organisation as large as the Hospital Authority, but it will still take steps to improve operations in the face of recent drug-related blunders, the authority's chief has said.
'The Hospital Authority gives out millions of pills each year and there is always human error,' its chief executive, Shane Solomon, said. 'The most important thing is that patients' health is not affected.'
He said the authority was a large institution and so small incidents would attract attention. 'After a number of incidents relating to drugs, the media and the public become interested in all drug incidents.'
Some pharmacists have complained that frequent changes to drug procurement regulations made it easy for dispensary staff to mix up drugs. Mr Solomon said the problem was not unique to the authority.
'A lot of drugs look the same, and it is an international problem,' he said. 'The dispensaries are under a lot of pressure ... we are asking them to be more careful.'
In the latest of the recent series of drug blunders, it was discovered on Friday that diabetes patients had been given drugs used to treat hypertension at the Lady Trench General Outpatient Clinic in Tsuen Wan. Mr Solomon said the clinic would look into the matter and punishments would be considered if negligence was involved. He said the authority was considering automating the system to reduce human error.