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<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Nov 16, 2009
CANCER SAGA
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Priority to help two recover <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Leow Si Wan
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->HELPING the two patients - who are at the heart of a drug blunder at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) - to recover is the 'top priority' now, said Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Monday.
The two cancer patients - a housewife, 44, and a sales consultant, 51, were given more chemotherapy drugs than they were supposed to get by mistake. Their infusion pumps were wrongly programmed, leading the drugs to be injected into them in hours instead of over several days.
The drug is so poisonous that doubling either the dose or the infusion rate could be lethal.
Asked if disciplinary action would be taken against the two pharmacists involved, Mr Khaw acknowledged on Monday that both of them are 'very personally traumatised' and investigations are ongoing.
The key lesson, he stressed, is to learn from this incident and prevent similar mistakes from occurring.
CANCER SAGA
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Priority to help two recover <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Leow Si Wan
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->HELPING the two patients - who are at the heart of a drug blunder at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) - to recover is the 'top priority' now, said Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Monday.
The two cancer patients - a housewife, 44, and a sales consultant, 51, were given more chemotherapy drugs than they were supposed to get by mistake. Their infusion pumps were wrongly programmed, leading the drugs to be injected into them in hours instead of over several days.
The drug is so poisonous that doubling either the dose or the infusion rate could be lethal.
Asked if disciplinary action would be taken against the two pharmacists involved, Mr Khaw acknowledged on Monday that both of them are 'very personally traumatised' and investigations are ongoing.
The key lesson, he stressed, is to learn from this incident and prevent similar mistakes from occurring.
