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Saskatchewan investigating after hospital found to be reusing syringes
12 hours ago

REGINA — Saskatchewan public health officials tried to ease the fears of
patients across the province Thursday after learning that at least one health
region has been reusing syringes during surgical operations.
Dr. Moira McKinnon, Saskatchewan' s chief medical officer, said the hospital
involved is in Lloydminster, just east of the Alberta boundary. McKinnon said
the government is still trying to determine how many patients may be affected,
but she said there are no plans to test people for hepatitis and HIV.
"The risk, as I said, is extremely low and we've got experts working on exactly
what that risk is," said McKinnon.
"We will move to testing if that's necessary, if the risk shows that that's
necessary."
McKinnon said practitioners at the Lloydminster hospital, which serves residents
from both Saskatchewan and Alberta, came forward Wednesday after a dirty-syringe
scare in Alberta.
The Alberta government suggested Thursday that a doctor who treats patients in
the Lloydminster area on the Alberta side of the boundary has been reusing
syringes.
"We know that a physician who practises in the Lloydminster and Vermilion
hospitals has been administering multiple doses of medication through IV lines
to multiple patients," Alberta Health said in a release. Department officials
were not available for comment.
On Monday, Alberta announced that up to 2,700 patients will be tested for
hepatitis and HIV after syringes were reused at a health clinic in High Prairie,
260 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
The province said it learned nurses at the High Prairie Health Complex had been
routinely injecting drugs into patients' intravenous lines with the same
syringe.
A fresh syringe is supposed to be used each time to avoid any blood-borne
diseases from one patient being accidentally injected into the bloodstream of
another.
"I think they were afraid of the situation in Alberta and they are testing,"
said McKinnon.
"But since that incident they've ... put an expert committee together and looked
at the risk and again they've determined that the risk is very low."
McKinnon said the syringes in question were used in intravenous bags in
Lloydminster.
"You're not actually penetrating the patient, you're only putting it into a tube
that follows down to the patient's arm. There is a theoretical risk that there
can be some back flow of that blood and contamination, but it's a theoretical
risk only," she explained.
Since 2001, the Center for Disease Control in the U.S. has identified several
hepatitis C outbreaks associated with syringe reuse. Syringe reuse was common
practice in the 1990s but was phased out when the outbreaks started.
McKinnon said the Saskatchewan government is also looking at whether syringes
have been reused in other parts of the province. The Ministry of Health has
advised all health regions to ensure that syringes are discarded after one use

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