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SINGAPORE – A total of 233 COVID-19 swab samples at a private medical laboratory were mistakenly discarded last week before being tested.
In a statement on Monday (October 12), Quest Laboratories said the batch of samples was collected last Wednesday from clinics under the Swab-and-Send-Home (Sash) program “they were inadvertently discarded prior to testing.” .
Under the Sash program, eligible patients are swabbed (at 87 clinics) and sent home to await their test results.
Quest Laboratories said that as of 11 p.m. Sunday, 102 patients have been re-tested after the lapse and their results have come back negative.
Last Wednesday’s incident was discovered two days later when clinics began contacting the lab to inquire about the test results of these patients.
Investigations found there were two lapses of compliance during standard laboratory operating procedures related to sample handling and disposal, Quest Laboratories said.
One of the lapses occurred during the delivery of samples from the courier to the sample receiving staff, which occurred at the same time that laboratory staff discarded the old sample, it added.
“As a second lapse of standard operating procedures, laboratory personnel were discarding samples in the sample receiving area, resulting in erroneous disposal of the untested lot,” said Quest Laboratories.
He added that the courier will receive disciplinary action, while the laboratory has implemented corrective and preventive measures, including color-coded containers intended for sample delivery and an additional verification step that requires all samples to be disposed of in order to be verified. and signed by two individuals.
Quest Laboratories CEO Ginny Foo said compliance with chain of custody procedures is taken very seriously and that the incident is a first for the lab that processes more than 6.5 million samples annually. in Singapore.
“However, any such lapse is unacceptable. We have made revisions to tighten our chain of custody and training of staff on the new standard operating procedures has already begun,” he added.
It takes a serious view of the incident and is investigating the matter, the Health Ministry said.
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