Hong Kong government moves to reassure public as another series of medical blunders revealed in report
Alarming new cases include deaths of two pregnant women and incidents where medical instrument were left behind in patients’ bodies after surgeries
In the midst of public concerns over a spate of medical blunders, undersecretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-Chee has reassured Hong Kong people that the Hospital Authority already has a mechanism to follow up on the blunders and subsequently make improvements.
Chan offered the reassurance yesterday after the latest edition of the authority’s newsletter, the Risk Alert, revealed the day before a series of medical blunders in the last quarter of 2015.
“The Hospital Authority already has a regular mechanism to follow up on these cases and to bring about improvement measures. The main purpose (of the newsletter) is to remind all medical staff not to let those cases happen again,” Chen said.
The death of two pregnant women and three cases in which medical instrument were left behind in patients’ bodies after surgeries were among a series of new cases reported in the newsletter, which unveiled alarming medical incidents that happened at Hong Kong hospitals in the last quarter of 2015.
In the latest edition of Risk Alert, the authority revealed there were nine cases considered so serious they had to be brought to the attention of doctors and nurses.
Among the nine cases, three cases involved medical instrument being left in patients’ bodies after surgeries.