Story highlights The VA secretary was responding to questions from Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal

Shulkin said Wednesday that the department is working to address the claim

Washington (CNN) The Veterans Affairs Department has apologized following an incident where a scalpel was allegedly left inside the body of a veteran for years following surgery.

VA Secretary David Shulkin said Wednesday that the department is working to address the claim and prevent future mistakes.

"It's an event that should never happen, and I am deeply sorry that any veteran should have to undergo this," Shulkin said, adding that the incident was "inadvertent on the surgeon's part."

Shulkin also said that surgical materials are left inside patients far less frequently in the VA's hospitals than in non-VA institutions.

"While this is an extremely rare event -- it happens in the country 1,500 times a year, in the VA, it does happen, it happened 12 times in the VA --- that's a rate in the VA much less than what happens outside the VA," he said, adding, "That's no excuse, this should never happen."

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