A staff member from Middlemore Hospital has been placed in quarantine as a precaution, after a “PPE protocol incident” during the management of a Covid-19 patient who arrived in the country from Fiji Thursday last night.
The Ministry of Health confirmed Friday night that the hospital worker promptly reported the incident and was moved into a quarantine facility after they were unable to easily self-isolate at home.
The DHB says the breach was minor, with other protections in place at the time.
No-one else was affected and risks from the incident are deemed to be low, the Ministry of Health said.
The affected staff member was fully vaccinated.
At the time, a Covid-19 patient from Fiji was being treated at Middlemore Hospital.
The female patient, a worker with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was medically evacuated to New Zealand on Thursday at a “critical stage”.
She is said to be receiving medical treatment in a “dedicated, secure” intensive care unit at the hospital.
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The UN’s Resident Co-ordinator for Fiji, Sanaka Samarasinha, told Stuff on Friday that the woman was in “quite a critical stage” and was given no preferential treatment when a decision was made for the medical evacuation.
Samarasinha said medical evacuations are always a “risky business” and while the woman had received the best possible care in Fiji, a clinical decision was made after consultation with UN doctors, New Zealand doctors and the Air Ambulance.
“We know it’s a deadly disease, but I’m 100 per cent confident in the team at Middlemore,” he said.
Samarasinha said it will take a while to stabilise the patient, but there’s hope.
The medevac request was approved by the Ministry of Health and was “always on the table”, Samarasinha told Stuff, despite New Zealand authorities stating the request was initially declined.
Requests for medical treatment in New Zealand from overseas jurisdictions, particularly the Pacific, are common, the Ministry of Health said.
A review into the incident which led to the hospital worker’s need to quarantine will be conducted.
