HONG KONG'S Tuen Mun Hospital has come under fire for separate incidents involving two patients.

The hospital apologised yesterday for feeding contaminated medicine to a one-year-old boy on two occasions.

It also apologised for a separate incident where a 90-year-old woman sustained a bone fracture in her arm when she was having blood drawn by a trainee doctor, Hong Kong's Oriental Daily reported.

In the first incident, the boy's mother, who wanted only to be identified as Mrs Ho, said her son had started vomitting profusely after being fed medicine, which had been prescribed to control the child's convulsions.

She said she had noticed small black particles in the medicine while feeding her son. Upon investigation, the hospital said the particles were bits of human skin which had fallen into the medicine bottle during preparation.

A hospital spokesman said: 'As the child could not swallow medicine in tablet form, liquid medicine had to be prepared for him.

'It is easy for bacteria to enter the medicine bottle when it is open.'

Mrs Ho added her son had been taking the medicine for about a month. The hospital admitted the latest bottle of medicine had become contaminated with bacteria from the human skin.

A spokesman for the hospital said there is another patient who may have been affected by the contaminated medicine. However, the hospital is disclaiming responsibility for the case as it is difficult to prove the bacteria indeed came from the medicine.

Granny fractures hand

In the second case, a 99-year-old woman spent her 100th birthday in Tuen Mun hospital after a trainee doctor caused a fracture in her hand while drawing blood.

The woman's family expressed disappointment with the hospital for its negligence.

Last month, the woman was hospitalised for kidney failure. Her granddaughter claimed the hospital staff had been informed that her grandmother had brittle bones and had to be handled with extreme care.

She said: 'We already reminded them to be careful. Now, my grandmother has to suffer unnecessary pain again.'

The family revealed that just six months before the incident, the woman had allegedly sustained another injury while undergoing treatment at the hospital.

At the time, the woman had broken her leg in the hospital. It is unknown how the injury was sustained.

Recalled the granddaughter: 'We hadn't planned on pursuing the matter, thinking she had sustained the injury because her bones were so fragile.'

After the first incident, she made it a point to remind hospital staff to treat her grandmother with care because of her fragile state.

'I didn't expect an incident like this to happen again, within a few months,' she said.

A hospital spokesman said the trainee doctor had noticed an odd sound while moving the woman's arm after drawing blood.

He added that they have apologised to the patient's family and will exercise greater care when handling the patient in the future.

This story was first published in The New Paper on Oct 7, 2008.