Drug probe almost complete

By LULU MARK
AN investigation into the use of a batch of the anaesthetic Propofol that was alleged to have caused adverse effects on seven patients, including four deaths, at the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH), is almost complete, an official says.
Health Minister Jelta Wong told The National yesterday that they just needed to get the right wording on the statement before it would be released.
“I have a report coming in this week,” he said.
“It hasn’t been finalised yet so I can’t really say much on it, but what I can tell you is that the thing was contaminated and we are looking into legal action and things.
“So let my legal (team) get onto it first and then I’ll give you a full brief on the whole thing.
“What we wanted to do at the start was find out what really went wrong.
“The whole process, even on our side too – there’s fault in our process with the actual anaesthetist and all that so we have to legally go through the whole thing before we can push it out.
“So as soon as they give me a legal statement that I know that it’s the truth, then I’ll send it out.
“If they try to water it down, I’ll send it back to them.
“I am going to see the family of the boy (a 14-year-old who died on Aug 12 after undergoing an eye operation) tonight so I’ll explain to them what’s been happening.”
On Aug 17, Health secretary Dr Osborne Liko released a circular informing the health sector as an alert that the administration of Propofol injection IP 10mg/ML in 20mL vial (1%W/V) at the PMGH theatre on Aug 12 on a cluster of seven had very serious and fatal events .
Four had died on the same day. The Health Department urgently requested an immediate identification and quarantining of this batch from the entire procurement supply chain system in PNG.
On Sept 1, Dr Liko announced that a high level independent investigation had been sanctioned by Wong into the matter.