A patient in was left on the operating table with an open wound for as long as three hours after the surgeon decided to leave in the middle of the surgery.
Dr Kelvin Ng Kwok-chai, a part-time employee at the Queen Mary Hospital, was responsible for supervising the liver transplant operation.
But he left shortly after having the patient’s abdomen cut open because he said he had to attend another appointment in another hospital.
Dr Kelvin Ng Kwok-chai (above, file photo) left a patient with wound open for three hours
A report of the case has been released and the doctor’s behaviour was deemed ‘unacceptable’
The incident occurred last October, but was revealed today in an investigation report from Queen Mary Hospital.
The hospital’s management said the surgeon’s behaviour was ‘unacceptable’.
The patient, whose name and gender remained confidential, was sent into an operating theatre in Queen Mary Hospital for a liver transplant operation at 12:12pm, October 13, reported .
The organ was to be taken from a deceased donor from Prince of Wales Hospital.
When the medical team was waiting for the organ to be delivered and after the patient’s abdomen had been cut open, Dr Ng suddenly informed the surgery team that he had to leave for another operation at a private hospital.
The patient is closely monitored by the nursing staff and the anaesthetist until Dr Ng’s back (file photo)
Chief surgeon, Dr Tiffany Wong Cho-lam, decided to put the operation on halt and waited until Dr Ng to return.
The patient was monitored by the nursing staff and the anaesthetist for slot gacor login three hours.
A senior anaesthetist, who refused to be named, said three hours with an open wound could increase the risk of blood loss or infection, but was unlikely to cause any long-term effect if it was done under supervision, reported .
Dr Ng returned to the theatre at 6:30pm and completed the transplant at around 10pm.
The patient was recovered and discharged in November.
A four-member panel was set up for investigation after receiving a report of the disrupted operation.
Queen Mary Hospital’s investigation team said Dr Ng’s arrangement was ‘unacceptable’
Dr Ng, a part-time associate professor, is working at Queen Mary Hospital as an honorary staff member, but the panel found Dr Ng’s surgery arrangement ‘improper and unacceptable’.
‘As a part-time staff member, Ng had his own scheduled operations at private hospitals and he was not required to inform us,’ said Dr Tong Hon-kuan, the hospital’s deputy chief executive in the .
However, he stated that the panel considered the three-hour halt of the operation ‘unnecessary and could have been prevented’.
Queen Mary Hospital chief executive Dr Luk Che-chung said separate procedures would be followed to determine whether Ng would be punished.
‘Punishment laid by the Hospital Authority could range from issuance of a warning to termination of honorary appointment.’