Last Updated Mon, 17 Nov 2003 22:21:24
TORONTO - Ontario has ordered all hospitals in the province to review the
way they disinfect medical equipment and report back by Jan. 9, Health
Minister George Smitherman said Monday.
Friday's order, disclosed Monday, was prompted by a problem at Sunnybrook
and Women's Health Sciences Centre, which said its cleaning process for an
instrument used to do prostate biopsies "was not meeting current infection
standards."
As a result, 861 men who received biopsies at the Toronto hospital between
December 1999 and August 2003 have been told to get a blood test for
hepatitis B or C and HIV.
The hospital said the chance of a hepatitis infection was one in 100,000,
and the chance of getting HIV even smaller.
But the Sunnybrook situation was the third to come to light in two weeks,
and the government acted as soon as it became aware of the problem,
Smitherman said.
FROM NOV. 4, 2003: Unsterilized equipment used at Ontario hospital
FROM NOV. 10, 2003: Labrador hospital may have used unsterile instruments
Dr. Andrew Simor
"Our concern is that this is much more widespread. This may well be the tip
of the iceberg. This is an instrument that other hospitals are using," said
Dr. Andrew Simor, Sunnybrook's head of microbiology.
Sunnybrook has contacted Health Canada so other hospitals can be warned
about the problem.
The hospital began a review of its cleaning procedures two years ago.
Everything passed, except a device used in the urology department for
trans-rectal ultrasound biopsies.
The procedure involves taking a tissue sample from the rectum, where the
needle could have come into contact with infected blood.
The needles were being thrown out after one use, the ultrasound was covered
with a latex sheath each time it was used and the wand was being scrubbed
and flushed with a special cleanser, said Dr. Bob Lester, Sunnybrook's
vice-president of medicine and mental health.
But it should have been soaked in yet another disinfectant solution, he
said.
Simor said the instruction manual wasn't clear enough.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Copyright � CBC 2003
Back to top of document