Puzzled by delay in giving Tamiflu to son
A recent incident where a child died of flu in a public hospital, and it took “more than two hours for him to receive Tamiflu” (“Grieving parents meet doctors in flu death case”, May 21), raises questions about the medical profession’s current policy on the treatment of flu in Hong Kong.
A few years ago, my son was suspected of having the H1N1 strain of flu and a doctor advised that he should go to a private hospital for observation and treatment. He was admitted to one a day after the symptoms first appeared.
Despite a strong suspicion that my son had H1N1, the doctor insisted on a laboratory test to confirm the strain of the flu before administering the drug Tamiflu. The test result was not available until the afternoon of the following day. It confirmed H1N1, but the doctor said there was no use taking Tamiflu 48 hours after the symptoms first appeared.
Why does the medical profession insist on a laboratory test before deciding to administer Tamiflu if there is a strong suspicion from the symptoms that it is H1N1? Also, there is the risk of serious consequences from delayed treatment. I do not know why Tamiflu is not adminstered straight away if the drug has no significant side-effect. And why should doctors insist on conducting a test (at the patient’s expense) knowing in advance that by the time the test result is ready, it will be too late to administer Tamiflu?
Surely there is an absence of simple logic in this kind of decision by medics. Or is it a case of private hospitals wanting to charge additional expenses for unnecessary tests?
Joe Lee, Kwun Tong