Dr Chee: PM Lee did not answer crucial question on Hep C outbreak

The government has to explain why it waited up to five months to release the news of the recent Hepatitis C outbreak at Singapore General Hospital, Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan said.

In a media statement, Chee claimed that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had failed to answer this "crucial question", adding that "there must also be trust in the political system to ensure the safety of the people".

And he questioned whether there were "political considerations" in withholding the information, given that the General Election was held last month.

Last Tuesday (6 Oct), SGH revealed that 22 patients in its renal ward had been diagnosed with Hepatitis C. Eight patients had died, with four deaths possibly linked to the virus. In response to the outbreak, PM Lee had said that the government must be "open and transparent" about the matter. 

Dr Chee noted that the Infectious Disease Act (IDA) mandates that infectious diseases be promptly reported to the Ministry of Health (MOH). Further, according to the Public Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act (PHMCA), the director of medical services at MOH is to be immediately informed of outbreaks of hospital-acquired infections. These pieces of legislation mean that the Government would have been "automatically alerted" when the first cases of the infection occurred between May and June 2015, said Chee. 

Noting that Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong had said MOH was not officially notified of the matter until late August, the SDP chief asked: "Why did (Minister Gan) wait for another two months before disclosing the episode...in October 2015?"

Given that the episode has raise two "important issues" - the security lapse at SGH and the delay in informing the public of the outbreak - Dr Chee stressed, "The two issues must not be conflated and, more important, the Government must not obscure its role in the matter by pushing the blame exclusively on SGH."