The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The spokesman of Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) made the following announcement today (January 29) regarding an incident of water seepage through a ceiling:
At around 9.30am yesterday (January 28), water seepage was found at the ceiling of a cardiothoracic surgical (CTS) ward of the QMH Main Block. Right above that ward is an isolation ward housing COVID-19 confirmed patients.
Inspection revealed that there was drainage leakage at the isolation ward and the water seeped through the ceiling of the CTS ward, causing water droplets to drip on the head and right hand of a male patient. He also suspected that water had drizzled into the eyes. The water droplets also dripped on the face and head of a nurse inside the CTS ward, and the face of a cleaning staff member with a full set of personal protective equipment handling water seepage at the isolation ward.
The hospital's infection control team visited the ward concerned afterwards for investigation and to find out the cause of incident and the patient's condition. While the male patient the water dripped on required hospitalisation for treatment, he has been transferred to an isolation ward for further treatment as a precautionary measure. Medical surveillance has been arranged for the nurse and the cleaning staff member involved. The nurse is currently on leave. The hospital arranged for the three of them to undergo COVID-19 tests and the test results were negative.
Part of the CTS ward is currently closed for thorough disinfection. Urgent repairs to the CTS ward with examination on water leakage have been conducted. Twelve patients in the CTS ward were transferred to other areas of the ward and two operations originally scheduled for today have been postponed. The hospital has contacted the affected patients to explain and reschedule the operations. Meanwhile, there was no interruption to isolation service throughout this period. Comprehensive repairs and improvement works for the related drainage pipes have been arranged and will be completed in one to two weeks.
QMH apologises to the affected patients. The incident has been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office through the Advance Incident Reporting System.
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