Hepatitis C probe under way: Panel

The independent review committee looking into the hepatitis C cluster at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) said yesterday its work is under way and that it has met three times since its appointment on Oct 6.

Investigation work has begun. This includes ward visits, interviews and reviewing the movement and care of the patients, andSGH records.

The panel members have been split into three teams - epidemiology, quality assurance and infection control, and case review - to undertake the review more efficiently and effectively.

Two international experts were brought in yesterday to provide advice on analyses, interpretation and report of findings.

Dr Scott Dewey Holmberg is from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He is chief of the epidemiology and surveillance branch at the division of viral hepatitis at the National Centre for HIV, Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. Professor Trish Perl is a senior epidemiologist for Johns Hopkins Health System. She is a professor in the departments of medicine (infectious diseases) and pathology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and in epidemiology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr Holmberg will be assisted by Dr Amanda Beaudoin, a CDC veterinary medical officer, while Prof Perl will be assisted by Ms JoEllen Harris, programme director of epidemiology and infection prevention at Johns Hopkins Health Systems.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 21, 2015, with the headline Hepatitis C probe under way: Panel. Subscribe