SINGAPORE General Hospital (SGH) has cancelled all non-urgent surgery for the next two weeks after it was hit by a drug-resistant strain of bacteria.
Fifteen patients have so far tested positive for the drug-resistant vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) bacteria and SGH is testing another 933 patients who may have come into contact with the bug.
Dr Asok Kumar, an internal medicine consultant at SGH, stressed that the bacteria is generally harmless in healthy people.
It is a threat only to those with weak immune systems, like people suffering from cancer or kidney failure. Treatment is possible, but it is expensive.
Dr Kumar said that out of the 15 carriers found at SGH, only one has been infected, a diabetic who has had a leg amputated.
The infection was found in a wound on the stump of her leg. This has been surgically removed and she is out of danger.
VRE was first reported in the United States in the late 1980s and has become a major cause of hospital-acquired infections there.
This is the largest cluster of VRE ever identified in Singapore. The previous high was six cases last year, also at SGH. Most hospitals would see at most one or two cases a year. No other hospital has reported similar problems.
Professor Tay Boon Keng, who chairs SGH's medical board, said most of the patients probably caught it at the hospital, since it is rarely spread outside of hospitals.
However, some patients who have already left the hospital will need to be tested for the bacteria, which is usually spread through direct contact with another carrier.
Prof Tay said patients who have the bacteria may continue to be infectious for several months. 'These carriers need to be isolated if they are admitted to hospital,' he said.
The names of people found to be carrying the bug will be circulated to all hospitals and nursing homes, in case they are admitted for treatment elsewhere within the next few months.
Those who are still in hospital will need to give two stool samples before they are discharged.
Medication for infected people costs between $200 and $800 a day and treatment may last for up to two weeks or more, depending on the type of VRE infection.
Prof Tay said SGH would bear the cost of treatment for patients who have caught the bug at the hospital. He said: 'We are taking aggressive steps to ensure that the VRE does not become entrenched in this hospital.'
The cancellation of all non-urgent surgery will allow the hospital 'greater manoeuvrability' should it need to isolate more patients.
When The Straits Times visited the hospital yesterday evening, there were signs put up along the hospital's corridors reminding patients, visitors and staff to wash their hands to minimise the risk of infection.
Bottles of hand-washing liquid were also placed outside the lifts and at patients' beds. In addition, notices restricting visitors to two per patient were placed at the lift lobby.
A visitor, Mr Michael Mah, said one of his friends, a doctor, had told him about the bacteria. 'When I told him I was coming here to visit my relative, he told me to come in and get out as fast as possible.'
SGH will continue with emergency operations and surgery on heart and cancer patients. The cancellation of non-emergency cases, which account for 80 per cent of all operations at the hospital, will affect about 700 to 800 patients.
Hospital staff started calling patients yesterday evening, and will continue doing so over the weekend.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BENJAMIN HO