CBS New York reported that an outpatient surgery center, the HealthPlus Surgery Center situated in Saddle Brook, New Jersey has been alerting thousands of its patients who were recently treated at their clinics. Around 3,778 patients are being advised by the center to go with blood tests after unhygienic conditions at the facility were uncovered by a state investigation. Due to such unhygienic conditions, the patients may have been exposed to foreign agents that may lead to infections.
The advice is specifically for those people who had been treated there from the beginning of the Year 2018 to September 7, 2018.
A note in the form of the letter is sent by the center to its patients mentioning the cause of infection exposure that the interruptions or delays in sterilization and disinfection of various instruments might have directed to expose patients to several infections.
After the investigation, it was found that the staff was not following appropriate procedures to maintain hygiene. The investigators ceased the facility for a short time period from September 7 to September 28.
Concerning about improper sanitation, the center said that it has improved its sterility maintenance and medication dispensing measures, repaired and sanitized all the instruments, and appointed a new staff for sterilization department and properly trained them.
However, the center said that the threat of getting an infection by the patients is low, but the officials need confirmation preferring people to go with the blood test for HIV, Hepatitis, and Hepatitis C.
Betty McCabe—administrator of HealthPlus Surgery Center—stated that it is significant to know that till date, no reports of any illness or infection has been found related to the investigation. The center recognized that this sanitation ignorance by them led to disappointing their patients, and they have been taking care of such kind of subjects on a critical and urgent basis.