A Coroner's Court inquiry will be opened to examine the death of a leukaemia patient and possibly others who died of a fungal infection linked to the tainted drug allopurinol, according to a lawmaker.
Democratic Party legislator Fred Li Wah-ming made the comment yesterday after meeting representatives of United Christian Hospital together with the wife of a leukaemia patient who died after taking the fungus-tainted drug.
'The Kwun Tong police station confirmed to Mrs Chan [the patient's wife] this morning that a Coroner's Court would be opened to look into the case,' Mr Li said after the meeting. 'I believe that not only this case, but also other cases will be investigated soon.'
Six patients are believed to have died of a rare fungal infection after taking Purinol, a brand of allopurinol, produced by the drug company Europharm and contaminated by the fungus Rhizopus microsporus.
A judiciary spokeswoman said it was checking the status of the cases and could not tell when the Coroner's Court case would be opened.
Leukaemia patient Mr Chan was discharged from Queen Mary Hospital on December 24 and was admitted to United Christian Hospital three days later with severe bleeding in his intestine. He died on January 1.
'[United Christian] did nothing ... during my husband's stay in the hospital. It failed to find out why he had the bleeding and how to treat him,' Mrs Chan said.
