Step-up scrutiny of private clinics, pharmacists urge
Fumes from the preparation of cancer drugs may pose risks to other tenants, group warns
The government has been urged to step up scrutiny of private medical centres administering drugs to cancer patients as their inadequate facilities may expose tenants in the same building to cancer-causing fumes circulated through the ventilation system, pharmacists say.
Society of Hospital Pharmacists president William Chui Chun-ming said many private clinics offering intravenous chemotherapy were housed in commercial buildings not designed for medical use and could pose a risk in the long term.
Doctors agreed there was a theoretical risk but insisted their existing safeguards were adequate.
Chui said intravenous chemotherapy required a bacteria-free environment and isolated cabinets for handling the cancer drugs. These would prevent the drug fumes from leaking into the air and entering the building's air conditioning system.
Many private clinics providing the treatment lacked these facilities, he said.
"The government needs to expand its regulation of the private medical sector, and step up monitoring of those who provide high risk intravenous chemotherapy," he said.