http://iseeithinkiblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/moh-one-error-a-week-in-singapore’s-hospitals/
According to the Ministry of Health, there were 401 hospital errors reported over the past seven years, or about one every week. Public hospitals, with heavier caseloads and more complicated cases, made 339 reports and private hospitals 62.
Among the errors: a patient had the wrong knee replaced while five others had swabs left in them after surgery.
These errors are usually kept private within the hospital though it is compulsory for hospitals and doctors to own up to their mistakes.
No one is identified when a mistake is reported. Nor does the ministry pursue those at fault. That is left to the hospital or patients to deal with.
The recent KKH chemotherapy blunder would not be reported in the media if not for the personal connections of one of the victim, Mrs Ng, whose relative contacted a Straits Times journalist who subsequently approached KKH for permission to interview the patients and doctors.
In the case, two patients were given an overdose of toxic chemotherapy drugs over a few hours instead of days. Their present condition is unknown as there appears to be a media blackout imposed on the matter.
Though a senior KKH doctor had apologized to the victims in person, there was no official statement of apology from KKH or its CEO Prof Ivy Ng, who is incidentally the wife of Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen. Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan apologized a few days later on his blog.
Such errors are not uncommon in Singapore’s public healthcare system where doctors and nurses are often overworked without adequate rest.
All doctors who graduated from Singapore’s NUS have to serve a mandatory 5-year bond in the public sector. Due to the huge disparity in pay between the public and private sectors, many left for private practice after the completion of their bonds.
Singapore nurses are also paid well below the market rate. The starting pay of a fresh nursing diploma holder is only about $1,500 a month. As a result, the turnover rate for nurses in public hospitals is astonishingly high with many leaving for private practice or changing jobs altogether.
Singapore’s healthcare system is constantly rated as one of the best in the world by World Health Organization (WHO). Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong once praised Mr Khaw as the “best” healthcare minister in Singapore.
According to the Ministry of Health, there were 401 hospital errors reported over the past seven years, or about one every week. Public hospitals, with heavier caseloads and more complicated cases, made 339 reports and private hospitals 62.
Among the errors: a patient had the wrong knee replaced while five others had swabs left in them after surgery.
These errors are usually kept private within the hospital though it is compulsory for hospitals and doctors to own up to their mistakes.
No one is identified when a mistake is reported. Nor does the ministry pursue those at fault. That is left to the hospital or patients to deal with.
The recent KKH chemotherapy blunder would not be reported in the media if not for the personal connections of one of the victim, Mrs Ng, whose relative contacted a Straits Times journalist who subsequently approached KKH for permission to interview the patients and doctors.
In the case, two patients were given an overdose of toxic chemotherapy drugs over a few hours instead of days. Their present condition is unknown as there appears to be a media blackout imposed on the matter.
Though a senior KKH doctor had apologized to the victims in person, there was no official statement of apology from KKH or its CEO Prof Ivy Ng, who is incidentally the wife of Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen. Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan apologized a few days later on his blog.
Such errors are not uncommon in Singapore’s public healthcare system where doctors and nurses are often overworked without adequate rest.
All doctors who graduated from Singapore’s NUS have to serve a mandatory 5-year bond in the public sector. Due to the huge disparity in pay between the public and private sectors, many left for private practice after the completion of their bonds.
Singapore nurses are also paid well below the market rate. The starting pay of a fresh nursing diploma holder is only about $1,500 a month. As a result, the turnover rate for nurses in public hospitals is astonishingly high with many leaving for private practice or changing jobs altogether.
Singapore’s healthcare system is constantly rated as one of the best in the world by World Health Organization (WHO). Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong once praised Mr Khaw as the “best” healthcare minister in Singapore.
