KK Hospital, Singapore, has apologised and admitted that it accidentally dispensed the wrong medication to a little girl.
The case came to light after Singapore mum Lau Jia Hui posted about it on Facebook on April 26, 2018.
"KKH should have informed me earlier. They called me but by the time I had already given my girl her medicines. Imagine the consequences could be serious if those medicines were of stronger doses or given orally...", she writes.
Wrong medication given in hospital by mistake
Apparently, the little girl, Joey Tay Jing En, was hospitalised at KKH from 23 April 2018 to 25 April 2018.
Upon discharge, staff passed mummy Lau the medicines her daughter had to take.
She mentions that, "Medicines were delivered to our ward 75/25 by the staff."
"Upon reaching home, as per instructions, have given medicines to my girl."
That was when the hospital called, after they realised that an error had occurred.
Mummy Lau says, "KKH called and ask me to check on the nose spray and nose drop. Was told to discard cause the medications were opened and used before and it was given wrongly.. and we checked on the medicines."
"To our dismay, my husband and I peeled off the name tag sticker of our girl's and there was another patient's name tag sticker underneath."
We can imagine how worried these parents would have been...the little child had just been give medicine in the wrong dosage...
So many questions remained.
Mummy Lau asks, "Why was my girl's name tag sticker pasted on top of another patient's name? The medicine was opened before and we dunno what medical condition the other patient was having."
"Went down to KKH to clarify and was told to monitor my girl's condition and they are very sorry about it and will investigate and reply to me within 2 weeks."
"My girl had already used the medications, viruses can passed on to my girl. (Nose drop, nose spray - for hygiene purposes, should not share) and moreover my girl had not fully recovered, immune system for kids also very low."
"KKH should have informed me earlier..."
Mummy Lau is understandably unable to comprehend the mystery behind the 2 stickers.
She also stresses that, "KKH should have informed me earlier. They called me but by the time I had already given my girl her medicines."
Imagine the consequences could be serious if those medicines were of stronger doses or given orally. They said their pharmacy staff at dispensing overloooked and was distracted.
Lastly, she asks, "During the hospital stay of these 3 days, had the medicine already been mixed up and my girl was already using another patient's medicine?"
"I think KKH should investigate and improve on their services and give me an answer."
Here is her full post on Facebook:
KK Hospital apologises
In response to the incident, KK Hospital has admitted to it's error, and apologised.
Associate Professor Ng Yong Hong, head and senior consultant of the department of paediatrics at KKH, told The Straits Times that the hospital "apologises and fully empathises with the parents' anxiety".
She admitted that the nose drops and isotonic saline nasal spray were "mistakenly dispensed by the hospital's pharmacy to a patient". And that, the hospital immediately contacted the family to replace the medication.
The hospital is taking the matter very seriously.
Dr. Ng says, "The patient was reviewed on April 28, and was well. A family meeting was done thereafter. We continue to remain in close contact with them."
"Investigations are being conducted and internal processes are being reviewed."
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(Source: The Straits Times)