Hong Kong public hospitals undergo citywide safety checks after medical worker injured by falling surgical light
- Twenty-nine operating theatres to be inspected after incident on Saturday left United Christian Hospital anaesthesia assistant with minor injuries
- Initial investigation by maintenance contractor points to surgical light’s fastenings, while Hospital Authority warns of possible delays for some scheduled procedures
Hong Kong health authorities are conducting comprehensive checks at 29 operating rooms after a medical worker suffered minor injuries when a surgical light fell in a rare accident at a public hospital in Kwun Tong.
An anaesthesia assistant was injured in an operating theatre at United Christian Hospital on Saturday after the piece of equipment dropped and struck the medical worker’s shoulder, the Hospital Authority revealed on Sunday.
An initial investigation suggested the incident resulted from an issue with the light’s fastenings, it said, adding that no patients were in the operating theatre at the time and no other staff or surgical operations had been affected.
“The [Hospital Authority] is very concerned about the incident and has notified all hospital clusters to temporarily suspend the use of the surgical light concerned so as to ascertain the safety of patients and staff,” a spokesman said.
The authority has also arranged for a maintenance contractor to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the 29 public hospital operating theatres that use the same model of surgical light, while also checking those of the same brand at other sites over the coming days.
The maintenance contractor also found that four other lights of the same make at United Christian Hospital had developed similar issues with their fastenings.
The spokesman said the faulty equipment would be replaced as soon as possible.
