Recall of specific lots of SPEEDSTITCH Needles due to potential breakage

A Dear Healthcare Professional Letter has been issued by Smith & Nephew Pte Ltd to notify healthcare professionals of the voluntary recall of selected lots of SPEEDSTITCH Needles due to a supplier error where a portion of the raw material was inadvertently mixed. As a result, some needles may be made of commercially pure titanium as opposed to 304 stainless steel which does not meet the specification and could potentially break during use. In the most likely event, a titanium needle is inadvertently used and results in a surgical delay of less than 30 minutes should the device break during use and is retrieved. Healthcare professionals are advised to quarantine and return all units of the affected devices to Smith & Nephew Pte Ltd. Please refer to the letter for details.

Only abstracts of the Dear Healthcare Professional Letters (DHCPL) are provided on this website. Details of these letters can be found in the MOH Alert System, which is accessible via the Health Professionals Portal (HPP), a one-stop portal for all healthcare professionals in Singapore. Dentists, medical doctors and pharmacists may access HPP at https://hpp.moh.gov.sg and follow the procedures below to access the MOH Alert system.

Step 1: Select your profession under ‘For Healthcare Professionals’.

Step 2: Click on ‘Useful links’.

Step 3: Click on ‘MOH Alert’ and log in via Singpass.

Step 4: Click on ‘Drug Alerts’ or ‘Med Device Alerts’ to view the DHCPLs.