On 6 March 2009, the announcement
of the contamination of a pharmaceutical product, Purinol (manufactured by
Europharm Laboratories Company Ltd), marked a spate of drug-related blunders. The next day, the HKMA advised members to stop
using products from the said company until matters had been clarified by the
Department of Health (DH). A similar official
advice from DH reached doctors on 10 March. On 19 March 2009,
unlicensed packaging of Amitriptyline tablets by Unipharm Trading Company was
reported. Two batches comprising 4,049
bottles of 25 mg tablets and one batch comprising 285 bottles of 10 mg tablets
were recalled from public hospitals, public clinics, private hospitals, private
doctors and pharmacies. On 22
March 2009, two batches of Water for Injections were recalled from the Hospital Authority (HA). According to initial
investigation by the
DH, the actual volume found in the two batches of
products (ranged from 120 ml to 130 ml) did not match with the declaration of the label
of each bottle (100 ml). On 25
March 2009, during a current drug stock-taking exercise, the HA reported that the
expiry dates shown on the labels of a same batch of Propranolol 10 mg tablets
supplied by Unipharm Trading Company were different. It was suspected that the cause of the discrepancy was related to an
isolated computer malfunctioning when preparing the labels. Then, reports concerning unregistered eye
drops and other products came out. More
reports on unregistered and defective products are foreseeable.
On 24 March 2009, Mr. Donald TSANG Yam Kuen, the Chief
Executive, said that the drug blunders would be taken seriously and
investigations would be carried out for various incidents. A high-level committee chaired by Ms.
Sandra LEE Suk Yee, Permanent
Secretary for Food and Health (Health), would conduct a comprehensive review
of the whole system in a bid to regain public confidence. It is true that these incidents adversely
affect the confidence of citizens (and doctors) in pharmaceutical products and
the statutory role of the DH in the control and monitoring of such products. In this issue, our President and Vice
President analyze the drug blunders in the President’s Message and the Forum
respectively.
On 4
March 2009, our
President and two of our Council Members were elected Chairmen of three Committees of the Medical Council of Hong Kong. Dr. TSE Hung Hing was elected Chairman of the
Ethics Committee. Dr. CHEUNG Hon Ming was elected Chairman of the Licentiate
Committee. And Dr. CHIU Shing
Ping, James, was elected Chairmen of the Health Committee. Do
you know the composition and function of these Committees of the Medical
Council? In the Interview Session of
this issue, I invited the above three new Chairmen to introduce themselves and
the Committees to our members. Talking about
elections of the Medical Council, one would immediately recall our Immediate
Past President appearing in the media. Dr.
CHOI Kin lost in the election for Chairman of the Medical Council. He again spoke out and provided some heated
topics for discussion in the Interview.
On 12 May
2008, the Great Sichuan Earthquake occurred in Sichuan province of China. The earthquake had a magnitude of 8.0 Ms,
lasting for around 3 minutes. Official
figures revealed that more than 90,000 people in total were dead or missing in
the tremor. It has been nearly one year’s
time after the catastrophe. Apart from
the Hong Kong Medical Association Charitable Foundation’s hard work in
emergency appeal, we do have great concerns about the recovery and redevelopment
of the areas. The 11th
Beijing/Hong Kong Medical Exchange will therefore be held in Chengdu, Sichuan
instead of Beijing on 24 & 25 October 2009.
The main theme of the Meeting is “Rehabilitation after Disaster”,
featuring aspects like orthopedic rehabilitation, rehabilitation of amputees, rehabilitation
of spinal cord injuries, psychological rehabilitation etc. A half-day visit will also be arranged for
examining the ruins of earthquake and related medical institutions. For details, please look out further
announcement from the Secretariat.
On 24 May
2009, the
Certificate Course on the Management of Drug Abuse Patients for Family Doctors
will begin. It is funded by the Beat Drugs Fund Special Funding Scheme. The objective of the Certificate Course is to increase family doctors’ interests, awareness and knowledge on the problems of drug abuse. Most importantly, it aims at
empowering family doctors to lead the management of young drug abusers in a team approach. There will be an increasing need for trained personnel
when the public become more aware of the youth drug abuse problem and the
practice of drug testing is promoted in schools (many of the schools start
adopting the drug testing practice). As this Certificate
Course will be a one-off programme, do not miss the
chance. Please kindly find attached
circular for more details and enrollment.
(Source: HKMA News April 2009)
