Singapore lab accidentally disposes 233 COVID-19 swab samples before testing

A private medical laboratory in Singapore accidentally disposed of a total of 233 COVID-19 swab samples before they were tested, according to The Straits Times report. The medical laboratory had collected a batch from clinics under the Swab-and-Send-Home (SASH) programme and they were inadvertently discarded earlier than testing, resulting in retesting of the COVID-19 patients. The incident took place at the Quest Laboratories on October 7 and it was discovered two days later when clinics began contacting the lab to ask about the test results for the patients. 

Under the SASH programme, coronavirus patients who meet certain criteria are swabbed and then sent home to wait for their test results. Their swab samples are then despatched to a lab, the place testing can take as much as three working days. 

While speaking to the media outlet, the lab spokesman said that no other sample batched were affected. He added that one of the lapses involved an in-house courier who did not follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) when handing over the untested samples to the lab, which resulted in the batch being disposed of alongside old samples. The spokesman said that all the samples were disposed of according to COVID-19 safety requirements. 

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Health Ministry to investigate the incident 

Singapore’s Health Ministry was informed about the incident on Friday. The ministry said that it is taking a serious view of the incident and is investigating the matter. The officials added that they will work with the lab to put in place the ‘necessary corrective and preventive measures’ to ensure such lapses do not happen again. 

The Quest Laboratories, on the other hand, informed that as of Sunday, the 87 affected clinics have been informed of the incident and 102 patients have been retested. The lab said that their results have turned out negative. Further, the lab added that the retested samples will be prioritised to ensure that affected patients receive their test results without further delay. 

According to The Strait Times, the investigations by Quest laboratories found two compliance lapses in its SOPs involving the handling and disposal of specimens. The spokesman said that the first lapse related to the handover of specimens from the courier to the specimens reception staff. The second lapse of SOP took place when the laboratory staff were disposing of specimens in the specimen reception area, which led to the erroneous disposal of the untested batch. 

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