233 COVID-19 test samples “inadvertently discarded” before being tested at Singapore’s private lab, due to lapses

A total of 233 COVID-19 swab samples collected from clinics under the Swab-and-Send-Home (SASH) programme have been “inadvertently discarded” before they were tested at the lab, due to lapses happened at Quest Laboratories on last Wednesday (7 Oct).

Quest Laboratories’ spokesman told The Straits Times (ST) on Monday (12 Oct) that the COVID-19 samples were “inadvertently discarded [of] prior to testing” at the lab, and that no other samples batches were affected apart from the 233 batches.

The lab spokesman noted that the incident was discovered two days later when clinics started enquiring the private medical laboratory about the test results.

He explained that the first lapse involved an in-house courier who failed to follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) when handing over the untested samples to the lab, which had caused the samples being discarded together with old samples.

“As a second lapse of SOP, laboratory staff were disposing of specimens in the specimen reception area, leading to the erroneous disposal of the untested batch.”

Quest Laboratories will take disciplinary action against the in-house courier and implement corrective and preventive measures with regards to the incident, said the spokesman.

Additionally, all relevant staff members have also been informed about the factors that caused the incident to occur as well as the repercussions.

The lab spokesman added that the lab follows the COVID-19 safety requirements when disposing of all the test samples.

Ginny Foo, the chief executive officer of Quest Laboratories, said every year the lab processes over 6.5 million specimens in Singapore and this was the first time the lab had encountered such an incident.

“Nevertheless, any such lapse is unacceptable. We have made revisions to tighten our chain of custody, and retraining of staff on the new SOP has already begun,” she asserted.

ST highlighted in its report that 87 affected clinics have been notified about the incident on Sunday (11 Oct), while 102 patients have been retested and their results came out negative.

Quest Laboratories also assured that retested samples will be prioritised so that affected patients are able to get their test results as early as possible.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health (MOH) was informed of the incident last Friday (9 Oct).

MOH said that it is working with the lab and the clinics to contact the affected patients and arrange a re-swab for them immediately.

“We will take appropriate actions against the laboratory if investigations reveal any breach of the regulations. We will also remind the other licensed laboratories on the need to ensure proper staff training and adherence to their standard operating procedures,” it told ST.