Probe finds HKU dental clinic's 'serious negligence' put 254 at risk

Staff at a university dental clinic who failed to properly sanitise tools were guilty of "serious negligence", an internal investigation has found.

The lapses at the University of Hong Kong clinic exposed 254 patients to the risk of contracting hepatitis and HIV over four days. One patient has still not been traced, five weeks later.

However, the inquiry was unable to assign blame to any individual member or members of staff. Its report did not say if any staff would be penalised.

Staff at the clinic, on the university's Pok Fu Lam campus, missed at least four standard steps to clean dental tools after use, the investigative panel found.

They failed to use sterilisation equipment properly on a set of tools, and missed running two checks to confirm they had completed the process before the tools were reused, it said. Each set of tools, once sterilised in an autoclave, or sterilising oven, can be used safely for several days.

The panel was unable to establish which of the staff was responsible for turning on the autoclave on the afternoon of October 30, panel member Dr Yuen Kwok-yung said.

He said: "It is very hard to pinpoint who was responsible … as about eight staff were on duty that day. The employees said they could not recall who had performed the duty that afternoon, and I believe they were speaking the truth."