Hong Kong\u2019s public hospitals recorded 26 serious untoward events involving medication errors in the first quarter of the year, a rise of more than 70 percent from the previous three months, the Hospital Authority said on Friday.<\/p>\n
The figure was 11 higher than the 15 cases reported in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the authority\u2019s latest Risk Alert bulletin.<\/p>\n
Of the 26 incidents, 12 involved anticoagulants, making them the most commonly implicated medication. Five involved insulin or oral diabetes drugs, while one concerned medication prescribed to a patient with a known allergy.<\/p>\n
In one case, a patient was admitted without identity documents, preventing hospital staff from verifying the person\u2019s medical history. The patient was subsequently prescribed an anticoagulant in error.<\/p>\n
The authority also reported seven sentinel events during the quarter, including three procedures performed on the wrong site and three cases in which medical items were left inside patients.<\/p>\n
One wrong-site case involved a patient at Tseung Kwan O Hospital who was supposed to undergo a colostomy but was mistakenly given a gastrostomy. The patient\u2019s condition later deteriorated and the person died after suffering cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n
The other two cases involved the removal of a ureteric stent from the left side instead of the right, and a lumbar decompression procedure performed at the wrong spinal level.<\/p>\n
Three other sentinel events saw items left inside patients after procedures. The items included gauze, the four-millimeter tip of a drill bit and a guidewire used in a pediatric catheter procedure.
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