KKH CEO and wife of Education Minister Prof Ivy Ng yet to apologize for medication error
November 15th, 2009 | 
Author: Written by our Correspondent
The CEO of Kandang Kerbau Hospital, Prof Ivy Ng and incidentally the wife of Singapore Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen had yet to issue a public statement or an apology for the serious medication error committed by its staff a few days ago which could potentially be fatal.
Two patients – Mrs Ng L.K. and Mrs Yip Poh Hung had received chemotherapy drugs via an infusion pump in hours rather than over a few days as intended.
Mrs Ng escaped unscathed only because the medication she was given is actually meant to be infused over 15 minutes. Mrs Yip was not so lucky. She received 5-Fluorouracil, a chemotherapy drug over 5 hours instead of 5 days.
Mrs Yip had received antidote for the poison and is currently under close observation. According to senior medical oncologist from KKH Dr Soh Lay Tin, she is not out of danger yet.
During a press conference called by KKH, Associate Professor Tan Kok Hian, who heads the division of obstetrics and gynaecology at KKH, gave a detailed explanation of how the error occurred to the journalists present.
Neither he, his CEO or KKH offered an official apology to the two patients though the two beleaguered pharmacists responsible for the error had done so.
Prof Ivy Ng, who also heads the Medical Board of KKH, has not given any interview to the press yet. The Minister of Health Mr Khaw Boon Wan has maintained a dignified silence so far on the matter.
In other Asian democracies like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong or Taiwan, the hospital CEO would have apologized to the patients and public immediately without delay. Even the Minister of Health who is in charge of all public hospitals would be implicated.
There is no culture of “taking responsibility for one’s mistakes” amongst the officialdom in Singapore, especially the echelons of government organizations.
Last year, a security lapse allowed Singapore’s famed fugitive Mas Selamat Kasteri to escape to Johor causing inconvenience and distress to many ordinary Singaporeans.
There was no official apology from the Home Affairs Minister nor the Internal Security Department in charge of the detention centre from which Mas Selamat escaped.
On the contrary, Singaporeans are blamed for being “complacent” by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
A few months ago, a massive food poisoning outbreak occurred at the temporary Geylang Serai market leading to two unfortunate deaths.
It was later discovered that the National Environment Agency (NEA) under the Ministry of Environment, did not give the Indian Rojak stall responsible for the food poisoning its latest hygiene grade of “C”.
The Indian Rojak stallholder was hauled up to court, but there was no apologies from the head of NEA or the Minister in charge.
Again, Singaporeans are blamed for poor public hygiene though the exact cause of the outbreak remains unclear.
The word “apology” is a taboo amongst top Singapore leaders and civil servants who consider themselves as “infallible” and thereby deserving of the highest salaries in the world.
The Singapore Prime Minister is paid more than 5 times the annual salary of United States President Barack Obama.
It is not known how much Prof Ivy Ng was paid, but it is unlikely that the public will hear any apology from her soon.
Posted in Editorial
they are practicing 刑不上大夫，礼不下庶人
Isn’t it common knowledge that Singapore favors the rich and powerful and screws the poor and useless, or is it only my illusion playing a trick on me?
In some countries, the head will come forward to take responsibilities when things go wrong. Here they will find some small time scrape goats to bear all consequences.
You can be rich but you cannot be poor in Singapore. The by product of gini coefficient is that gap between the rich and poor is so wide that the rich is untouchable by the poor.
Why does the writer thinks the silence from Khaw is dignified?
There is no dignity in keeping silent here.
He was afraid it might give the wrong message like he did in Durai’s case.
FYI, I have posted how you censored my comments in sammyboy and 3in1kopitiam.
Hi TR Watch,
Thanks so much for helping us publicize Temasek Review, no wonder our traffic has increased in the last few hours.
By the way, are you a Malaysian? FYI, thanks for providing us with crucial information about your whereabouts, we have been monitoring you for a long time.
Don’t worry, we know you are using a proxy: tor-proxy.org.
Please continue to give us free publicity if you wish to do so. It won’t hurt us a single bit.
This incident could not have happened if Singapore hospitals employ more of the better quality local Singaporeans as their medical support staff instead of employing half-baked cheap foreigners en mass.
OH,COME ON!
THEY NEED TIME TO FIND SOME GOOD EXCUSES!
SO DON’T HURRY THEM,PLEASE,will you?
What to expect from Hen’s wife?
Her husband is afterall the joker who increase the minimum sum by 4 times in less than 5 years and to trick people into thinking that they are giving more interest monies and then lock up their monies for a long long time in cpf for him to manipulate.
Both these kenna poisoned women are small flies and dispensible, Elites are never wrong and if they make any mistake, its a Honest Mistake!
Want Elites to apologise to small flies and lesser mortals? Dream on!
On a serious note, KKH probably working on how to settle privately below the table with victims family members being this issue goes to court.
A few thousand dollars plus free hospitalisation and medicine, settled.
@admin
Here, let me help you there.
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This is Singapore style la…
When things goes wrong,the small fries below got the blame and got sacked or transfer out but should there compliments or good things happens, the CEO and Minister would come out to claimed credits and gave press briefing. These happens in GLCs too.
If this happen in Japan (which the garment always like to compared with), the CEO and the senior managements will apologise in public and the Minister will apologise and resigned.
Here…XXX…sound of silence…XX and Sporean will forget like the fiasco at STTA…sigh…
So Temasek Review aka WayangParty,
Are you going to answer these 2 questions:
1. Will you issue a public apology to the Workers’ Party for trying to disrupt their annual dinner by hiring some Malay boys to distribute inflammatory flyers at Toa Payoh MRT pass and pasting some at the vicinity of the restaurant?
2. Will you issue a public apology to Mr Goh Meng Seng for trying to get him sacked from NSP by pasting a letter of complaint at the front door of NSP office.
BTW, I have also posted this in sammyboy and 3in1kopitiam just to let the ppl there know of your action here.
@TRWatch, what sammyboy? You mean the Sinkaporean pornmaster?
It never hurts when the knife is not cutting one’s flesh but some one elses.
If the two victims to the blunder were Mrs Khaw or Mrs Goh or Mrs Lee for that matter, do you think the people doing the “investigations” would be dragging their feet? The two pharmacist would have been arrested and may be sued their pants off for that mistake!
I am not the lease bit surprise if any of them were to come out and say “It happened. What to do? We move on from here.”
Hmmph~~!
KKH make the whole thing like an episode from House. so drama.
CNA news on 13 Nov 2009 may be relevant in the discussion here
MOH alerts hospitals after two women given wrong dosage of cancer drugs
By Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia 13 November 2009 0006 hrs
MOH alerts hospitals after two women given wrong dosage of cancer drugs
SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Health has alerted all hospitals to take immediate measures to ensure safety in the use of infusion pumps when administering drugs.
…some paras deleted…
Hospital officials said they have apologised to the patients and their families. The hospital is also waiving current medical fees for the next cycle of chemotherapy treatment. As for further compensation, the hospital said the issue has not surfaced.
As a safeguard, the hospital has now decided to use only one type of infusion pump, so that the rate and calibration will be clearer and chances of error will be further diminished.
“We have a variety of pumps – the default rate is set at one rate and another pump is set at another rate. So sometimes if you are using the different pumps you should know the default rate and to set it accordingly. Unfortunately, it is very rare, there was an error and it wasn’t recognised,” said Prof Tan.
“KK is also sorry about this incident and we take full responsibility for this error and we would also like to say sorry to the patients and their families who are involved,” added Prof Tan.
Some patients, the hospital said, were concerned about their own medication after learning about the incident. However, doctors said the patients’ fears were assuaged and they were informed that the chances of such errors are extremely rare.
The hospital said investigations are ongoing.
- CNA/sc
Please don hold your breath for apology. It will never happen because even if 200 singaporeans die, they can get lots more from the Communist mainland.