Singapore legislation
Regulation 27
of Healthcare Services (Community Hospital Service) Regulations 2023
Regulation 27
Prevention of transmission of blood borne viruses and pathogenic bacteria
Subregulation 1
A licensee who provides haemodialysis must ensure that there is no transmission of blood borne viruses and pathogenic bacteria between haemodialysis patients, and between any haemodialysis patient and any of the licensee’s personnel.
Subregulation 2
Without limiting paragraph (1), a licensee must ensure that —
before a patient starts receiving haemodialysis, the patient must be tested to determine the level of each of the patient’s liver markers and for each specified infectious disease;
any patient who at any time has a liver marker which level is above the normal range or tests positive for any specified infectious disease is referred to an appropriate medical practitioner;
every specified patient receives haemodialysis in a different room or a physically segregated area from a patient who is not a specified patient;
for any period during which a licensee provides haemodialysis to a specified patient, any machine or equipment that has been used for a specified patient is not used for a patient who is not a specified patient;
where a dialyser has been used by a patient who has a specified infectious disease — the dialyser is not reused; and
where a dialysis machine has been used by a patient who has a specified infectious disease — the dialysis machine undergoes complete chemical disinfection after each such use, and the chemical disinfection is performed in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Subregulation 3
In this regulation —
Definition
“specified infectious disease” means any of the following infections:
Hepatitis B infection;
Hepatitis C infection;
human immunodeficiency virus infection;
Definition
“specified patient” means a patient with a Hepatitis B infection and is HbsAg positive or HBV DNA positive.