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An examination will be conducted at Scotland's flagship hospital after one of the two patients who died after contracting an infection with pigeon droppings was found.
Scottish Secretary of Health Jeane Freeman confirmed that a post-mortem examination of the young man had shown Cryptococcus bacteria to be a contributing factor in their deaths.
Another patient at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow was also infected with the inhalation of the Cryptococcus fungus, which is mostly in the soil and pigeon droppings, but Ms. Freeman confirmed that it did not contribute to their deaths .
Pigeon droppings appeared in a machine room on the roof of the hospital via a small cut in the wall, which was "invisible to the naked eye," Ms. Freeman said.
Adding that she still did not know how the bacterium had entered the ventilation system, she explained that a review would be done during the design, construction, transfer and maintenance of the system. 39, flagship hospital.
Built for the Scottish Government at a cost of about £ 842 million, it was inaugurated in late April 2015.
Ms. Freeman said that despite the recent construction of the hospital, there appeared to be a "number of cases" where the structure of the building was "less than satisfactory".
After visiting the hospital Tuesday morning, the Secretary of Health said: "I agreed to conduct a review, with external experts, that would address the building design, the order of the works, the construction of the building , the handing over of the building and its maintenance, in order to clearly identify the points that should have been solved and the maintenance programs that might be more robust or more frequent at the moment. "
Ms. Freeman announced the review after exposing "clear factual evidence" about the deaths of two patients by MSPs at Holyrood.
She added that the Cryptococcus bacteria had been identified in one patient in November 2018 but that it was not related to the death of that person the following month.
Ms. Freeman added, "In December, an autopsy of a deceased child confirmed that Cryptococcus was both present and had contributed to their deaths."
She explained that the second case had resulted in the introduction of additional infection control measures by the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, including the prescription of antifungal drugs to "vulnerable patients" and the provision of additional air filters.
"I am convinced that the board of directors has taken all necessary measures to ensure and maintain patient safety," she said.
My current question will bring the Secretary of State for Health to Parliament today to provide additional information, after two patients contracted a fungal infection related to pigeon droppings in the United States. # 39; s hospital. The patients died later and our thoughts remain with their families. pic.twitter.com/L1WCUvPe0l
– Monica Lennon (@ MonicaLennon7) January 22, 2019
Spokesperson on workplace health, Monica Lennon, said that the public would be "shocked" to learn that one of the deceased was a child because she claimed that the health council had "totally lacked clarity" about the infection.
Ms. Lennon said, "I think the Scots will feel that it is absolutely extraordinary that in a modern hospital, the flagship and apparently super-hospitable hospital of Scotland, we are in a situation where pigeons and infections can kill patients.
"If this unthinkable and lethal infection can happen in Queen Elizabeth, a flagship vessel, how can it prevent that from happening in other hospitals?"
The Labor MSP insisted on Ms. Freeman when the Scottish Government had been made aware of the problem after an external investigation reportedly contacted former Secretary of Health Shona Robison in March 2018 about pigeon problems at the hospital.
Ms. Freeman said that a careful search of government records and Ms. Constable's constituency office staff had found no trace of this letter.
The Secretary of Health said: "On December 21, the government was informed of Cryptococcus infection in two patients.
"It was a good time for the government to be informed, because it was the autopsy that followed the death of the child that identified the second case. This second case is then the trigger for an additional action of infection control. We have been properly informed. . "
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