A rural Alberta hospital may reopen by the end of the week, two weeks after it was shut down March 16 following the spread of an antibiotic-resistant superbug and the improper sterilization of medical equipment.
On March 26 Alberta health minister Dave Hancock announced a second incident of improper sterilization of equipment, this time in a doctor’s office. The incident began as a disciplinary measure with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. About 261 patients have been contacted about the possible risk of blood-borne infection. It is in the same East Central Regional Health Authority as the earlier incident.
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Hancock has also requested a review of all infection control programs in each of the health regions across the province, including sterilization procedures and MRSA, which are superbugs called methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. All professionals who provide medical services, including doctors and dentists, will be included in the review.
St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Vegreville, Alta., has been scrubbed from top to bottom to try to eliminate the MRSA.
Seven patients in the 25-bed hospital contracted the infection over a one month period, a higher than normal rate of infection. The hospitals in the Capital Health Region in and around Edmonton have 3,000 beds and average 31 cases of MRSA a month.
It was during an investigation of the spike in infection rates at the hospital by Dr. Gerhard Benade, medical officer for the East Central health region, that he realized the central sterilization room ordered closed a month earlier was still operating.
During the audit flecks of flesh and blood were found on tools and scopes used to examine patients and take samples. The improperly sterilized instruments were then used to examine other patients.
Health officials are examining four years of patient records and at least 80 patients are being contacted about the possibility that they may have contracted HIV or hepatitis B or C because of the dirty equipment. The risk of contracting disease from the improperly sterilized equipment is believed to be low.
“It is unacceptable to me as I’m sure it is to most Albertans that this situation could arise in our health system,” said Alberta health minister Dave Hancock.
Five days after the hospital was closed to new patients and the sterilization room closed, the government took over running the hospital 100 kilometres east of Edmonton. The hospital is in the riding of Alberta premier Ed Stelmach.
Hancock appointed a board of management to oversee the daily operations of the hospital. It has also brought in extra help to manage East Central Regional Health Authority, one of seven regional health authorities in the province, as the investigation continues.
A team from the Health Quality Council of Alberta has also been sent to Vegreville to look into the incidents and report to the minister.
“As we look deeper into this situation, let me be clear. I am committed to taking whatever further steps may be necessary. Albertans deserve to receive quality health care and expect nothing less,” Hancock said during question period in the legislature.
Hancock said there was no need to rush to conclusions and he wants to wait until the Health Quality Council reports back.
“That requires a careful review and I don’t think there’s any immediacy in that.”
Both the opposition Liberals and New Democrats said the outbreak and the problems in the central sterilization room are a result of the cuts to health care during the 1990s.
“Clearly, the situation with Vegreville’s St. Joseph’s Hospital shows that there are major systemic issues related to cuts to our public health-care system in the ’90s,” said NDP leader Brian Mason.
“It is essential that any inquiry into the events leading up to the dangerous situation at St. Joseph’s Hospital be given the resources and powers necessary to get to the bottom of the matter and restore public confidence in our health-care system,” said Mason, who called for a public inquiry.
Notification was sent to all provincial health officers urging them to review health protocols, said Dr. Karen Grimsrud, deputy provincial health officer. Each hospital is responsible for ensuring proper procedures are followed.
