Health authorities have come under pressure to review incident reporting guidelines for private hospitals after 12 operations were affected by a 45-minute breakdown of an air-conditioning system at one facility last year but which was only revealed on Monday.
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St Teresa’s Hospital, a private facility in Kowloon City, confirmed to the Post the air-conditioning system for its operating theatres broke down on July 31 of last year.
The fault resulted in condensation dripping from surgical lights, forcing staff members in some operating rooms to resort to using an umbrella, according to a local news report.
Dr Liu Chi-leung, who was performing an operation in one of the affected theatres, told the media outlet the stability of an endoscope he was using might have been affected by the sudden rise in humidity and a surgical display was disrupted for about five minutes.
In response to Post inquiries, the private hospital said the chillers of its air-conditioning system for the operating theatres stopped working at around 7pm on the day in question.
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“This is not a reportable item in the reporting mechanism [under the Department of Health],” a staff member from the administration department said.