SINGAPORE - KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) has apologised after it dispensed the wrong medication to a young girl by mistake.

The girl's mother, Ms Lau Jia Hui, made a Facebook post about the incident last Thursday (April 26).

In her post, she said her daughter Joey Tay was hospitalised from April 23 to 25. It did not say why she was in hospital or how old the child is. But from the photos that were posted, the medication was meant for those under the age of three.

She was discharged on April 25 and pharmacy staff gave Ms Lau medicine to take home.

"Upon reaching home, as per instructions, I gave medicine to my girl," wrote Ms Lau. "Then KKH called and asked me to check on the nose spray and nose drop."

She said the hospital told her to discard the medication as it had been opened and used before.

"We checked the medicines," said Ms Lau. "To our dismay, my husband and I peeled off the name tag sticker of our girl and there's another patient's name tag sticker underneath."

Associate Professor Ng Yong Hong, head and senior consultant of the department of paediatrics at KKH, told The Straits Times on Monday that the hospital "apologises and fully empathises with the parents' anxiety".

She added that the hospital immediately contacted the family to replace the nose drops and isotonic saline nasal spray that were "mistakenly dispensed by the hospital's pharmacy to a patient".

"The patient was reviewed on Saturday (April 28) and was well," she said. "A family meeting was done thereafter. We continue to remain in close contact with them."

Prof Ng said the hospital takes the matter very seriously.

"Investigations are being conducted and internal processes are being reviewed," she said.