Dental school to investigate months-long use of tainted water lines
Hong Kong University taskforce will include members from the medical and dental faculties, leading to questions about its independence
The faculty of dentistry at the University of Hong Kong has set up a taskforce to investigate an incident in which dental chairs whose attached water hoses became contaminated with bacteria were still used for patients.
The South China Morning Post learned of the investigation through an internal document, which says the taskforce will investigate the "causes and issues" of the incident and provide recommendations to minimise risks of similar mishaps.
It will interview staff involved in managing the crisis, including the manager of clinic 3A at the Prince Philip Dental Hospital in Sai Ying Pun, where the problem happened.
But one lawmaker questioned the independence of the investigation. The taskforce will be led by the hospital's new director, Thomas Flemmig, who came in after the incident. It will include an associate professor, Dr Michael Botelho, who is on the dentistry faculty, and Dr Vincent Cheng, an infection control specialist on the medical faculty.
"The investigation will not address the public worries unless it is led by an independent person," said lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki, who is also a medical practitioner. He said the university administration, not the medical or dental faculty, should lead it.
The investigation follows an incident exposed by the Post last week in which the dental hospital might have used "heavily contaminated" water to rinse patients' mouths from mid-February to mid-June.
The independent hospital, which is run by the university and governed by a board of government officials, said it had found "heavy biofilm contamination" inside tubing attached to dental chairs at clinic 3A. Biofilm happens when micro-organisms stick together on a surface.