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at Gwanda Provincial Hospital in Matabeleland South Province.
In an interview on Wednesday, Matabeleland South provincial medical director Dr William Busumani confirmed that the hospital had traced all the 20 patients who were given wrong medication last week.
“We have managed to trace all our 20 patients and we have given them the correct medication. On the same day of the mix up, we traced five while the other 15 were found soon after that. Everything is under control but investigations on the issue continue,” he said.
A mix up of ARVs took place at the Opportunistic Clinic at Gwanda Provincial Hospital about two weeks back, which saw 20 people living with HIV being given wrong drugs.
The patients were mistakenly given a three in one drug combination instead of a two in one combination, an error which was discovered by the hospital staff the same day.
Dr Busumani said investigations on the mix up revealed that the supplier of the drugs had a new stock of drugs and as a result accidentally supplied the hospital with a triple combination type of drug instead of a dual.
“However, we would like to thank our suppliers for working with the hospital in identifying the problem,” he said.
Dr Busumani urged the health workers in the province to be always on the lookout to ensure the safety of patients.
He commended some of the Gwanda Provincial Hospital staff for the good work they did in correcting the problem of the mix up of drugs.
“We would like to apologise to our clients for that mix up and assure them that nothing of that kind will happen again.
“We also thank our health workers for their vigilance as they quickly discovered the mistake and we encourage them to continue being vigilant so that our patients get the best service,” said Dr Busumani.
Online Reporter