Queen Mary Hospital on Wednesday said an investigation was under way, after it received a report that a doctor was suspected of improperly obtaining morphine oral analgesics, a type of painkiller.

In a statement, the Hospital Authority said the doctor concerned works at the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, and that Queen Mary Hospital and the university had set up a joint committee to look into the matter.

It said last Saturday, this committee had met the doctor to see whether any criminal element was involved, and that police had been informed. It also said several other doctors appeared to have prescribed the drugs between February and August.

The authority said the doctor was now on leave and that Queen Mary Hospital had reviewed patient records, with no patient found to have been affected.

Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam is the teaching hospital for the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine.