16 disciplined after S’pore hospital hepatitis C outbreak

March 17, 2016

The state-run Singapore General Hospital (SGH) where the outbreak took place said separately it had disciplined 12 senior staff, including those in senior management.

SINGAPORE: Sixteen people have been disciplined in Singapore for a hepatitis C outbreak in the city-state’s largest hospital last year that left at least seven patients dead, officials said Thursday.

The Ministry of Health said in a statement four of its staff holding director-level roles were given warnings and financial penalties for failing to step in early to prevent the disease from spreading. It did not say how much the penalties were.

The state-run Singapore General Hospital (SGH) where the outbreak took place said separately it had disciplined 12 senior staff, including those in senior management. Its punishments were similar to those meted out by the ministry.

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Union slams media reports about forged sick chits

March 12, 2016

No medical assistant or union member investigated or charged for such offences, says the National Union of Medical Assistants.

KUALA LUMPUR: The National Union of Medical Assistants (Numa) has denied that any of its members were involved in medical certificate forgery as implied in recent news reports.

Its president, Taram Singh Walia, said no medical assistant had been charged in court for such an offence and hoped the media would be more careful in their reports of such cases.

“We have checked and ascertained that no medical assistant is under investigation or has been charged with forging MCs. The man who was charged with 24 counts of forging MCs in a recent case is not a medical assistant nor a member of Numa,” he said.

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Tinjauan Ke Hospital Sungai Buloh

https://www.najibrazak.com/bm/blog/tinjauan-ke-hospital-sungai-buloh/

Petang tadi, saya sempat meluangkan masa membuat tinjauan ke Unit Hemodialisis Hospital Sungai Buloh bagi melihat sendiri keadaan di sana.

Saya difahamkan bahawa ramai pesakit buah pinggang yang perlu menunggu lama sebelum giliran mereka untuk mendapatkan rawatan hemodialisis di hospital-hospital Kerajaan.

Isu ini timbul disebabkan terdapat lebih 2.5 juta pesakit buah pinggang di Malaysia dan ini membawa kepada permintaan tinggi di hospital-hospital Kerajaan yang memberikan rawatan dan perkhidmatan berkualiti pada kadar yang amat rendah, kira-kira 22 kali lebih rendah berbanding hospital-hospital swasta.

Kerajaan sedar bahawa bilangan mesin hemodialisis yang sedia ada di Hospital Sungai Buloh adalah tidak mencukupi untuk menampung keperluan pesakit-pesakit buah pinggang. Oleh itu, saya telah mengarahkan penambahan beberapa unit mesin hemodialisis yang baru untuk dihantar ke Hospital Sungai Buloh dalam masa terdekat.

Insya-Allah, saya yakin langkah ini akan membawa manfaat kepada pesakit-pesakit yang memerlukannya.

SivaSanta Dialysis and Medical Clinic project gets nod

BY RAVIN PALANISAMY

The Malaysian Insider

Published: 24 November 2015 7:01 AM

.Artist impression of the SivaSanta Dialysis and Medical Clinic, which will cost an estimated RM15 million to build and equip, on Jalan Berhala in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Ravin Palanisamy, November 24, 2015.After three years, Temple of Fine Arts Malaysia has finally received the nod from City Hall to proceed with its plan to redevelop Klinik Derma SivaSanta on Jalan Berhala in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.

The proposed three-storey facility will be known as SivaSanta Dialysis and Medical Clinic. It will offer general and specialist medical services, dialysis, diagnostic services, rehabilitation care and traditional and complementary medicine.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/citynews/greater-kl/article/sivasanta-dialysis-and-medical-clinic-project-gets-nod#sthash.w68tvuB4.dpuf

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Diversifying the Global Heparin Supply Chain: Reintroduction of Bovine Heparin in the United States?

The global supply chain for bovine and porcine heparin and regulatory considerations are examined.

Nov 02, 2015

By David Keire, Barbara Mulloy, Christina Chase, Ali Al-Hakim, Damian Cairatti,Elaine Gray, John Hogwood, Tina Morris, Paulo Mourão, Monica Da Luz Carvalho Soares, Anita Szajek

Pharmaceutical Technology

Volume 39, Issue 11

Courtesy of the US Pharmacopeial Convention.Heparin regulates hemostasis at various points of the coagulation cascade mainly through its interaction with antithrombin and heparin cofactor II. Because of these properties, heparin is a life-saving anticoagulant drug used in renal dialysis, cardiac surgery, and treatment for deep vein thrombosis. The drug also binds to platelets, inhibiting platelet function and contributing to the hemorrhagic effects of heparin. Bovine heparin, first approved in 1939, was widely used in the United States for more than 50 years (see Figure 1). Like all drugs, heparin can cause adverse effects, but overall, bovine heparin products were found to be safe and effective during that period.

Figure 1: Historical development timeline of therapeutic heparin in United States.[Courtesy of Authors]Read the full text here

Aseptic Processing: Keeping it Safe

Humans represent the greatest risk for microbial contamination in an aseptic process.

By Randi Hernandez

BioPharm International 1/7/2015

submitted by Dr Syed Ibrahim Ismail

Aseptic processing has garnered some increased scrutiny from FDA in recent years, primarily because it is considered a high-risk activity by the agency, says Rainer Newman, consultant at Aseptic Process Technology, LLC. In addition, says Satish Singh, research fellow and group leader at Pfizer, “Microbiologically-related recalls have always been a significant portion of the enforcement actions by FDA.” In fact, more than 75% of FDA recalls during 2004–2011 involved sterile products, and approximately 80% of these recalls were linked to “lack of sterility assurance.” Many of the remaining 20% of recalls were attributed to microbial contamination or a failed fill/finish product test (1). Although packaging failures factored into a majority of the “lack of sterility assurance” cases, many of the remaining contamination cases were associated with GMP issues or manufacturing errors such as incomplete sterilization or nonsterile components being added to sterile products (1).

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Baxter’s Phoxillum Renal Replacement Solutions obtains FDA approval

Pharmaceutical Technology

http://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/newsbaxter-phoxillum-renal-replacement-4493678?WT.mc_id=DN_News

Baxter International has received approval from US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Phoxillum Renal Replacement Solutions (BK4/2.5 and B22K4/0) to use as replacement solutions in continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT).

The therapy aims to correct electrolyte and acid-base imbalances.

In addition, Phoxillum can be used in case of drug poisoning when CRRT is used to remove dialysable substances.

Baxter vice-president and renal therapeutic area lead Bruce Culleto said: "The approval of Phoxillum allows us to offer healthcare providers additional options in managing critically ill acute kidney injury patients treated with CRRT.

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