The Hospital Authority is to investigate a drug manufacturer after the recall of 4,000 bottles of liquid paracetamol - most of which are believed to have been drunk by sick children.
The medicine, used to treat fever in youngsters, had a defect that turned it to jelly.
Only 16 of the 4,000 bottles of paracetamol, made locally by Vida Laboratories, had been collected yesterday. It is believed most of the rest were consumed, an authority spokeswoman said.
The authority said it had secured another supplier.
'We are not only looking at this medicine but also the entire production process of the manufacturer,' chief pharmacist Lee Pak-wai said.
'If there's a problem found in the production, we may consider not dealing with them again.' Other medicines supplied by Vida, based in Kwai Hing, are being used by public hospitals but account for only a small proportion of what the authority dispenses, Mr Lee said.