MR YIU SI-WING (in Cantonese):

President, there are two weeks to go before the Lunar New Year, by then we will have four days of holiday in Hong Kong, during which many private clinics will be closed for four to seven days. With the recent influenza surge in Hong Kong, coupled with the epidemic of pneumonia with unknown cause, public and private hospitals in Hong Kong―especially public hospitals―will definitely face greater stress when compared with that in the past few years. Does the Government have any special measures in place, particularly during the seven days of the Spring Festival, to tackle the problems faced by public hospitals in such aspects as manpower, accommodation and facilities?

 

SECRETARY FOR FOOD AND HEALTH (in Cantonese):

I thank Mr YIU Si-wing for his question and views. With respect to our response to the influenza surge, the authorities held a press conference especially at an earlier time this year on the measures and arrangements for long holidays, and we have also liaised with the six major charitable organizations as they are operating many clinics. Although we cannot request them to do so, they are very cooperative in that their clinics will continue to operate during the long holidays―especially during the Lunar New Year holiday―thereby offering more choices to those members of the public in need.

 

During the press conference, we also mentioned the contribution of Chinese medicine to the treatment of common cold, which works very well particularly in prevention. Therefore, we call on members of the public to seek treatment from Chinese medicine clinics in the event that they suffer from common cold.

 

As regards the Hong Kong Private Hospitals Association, we pointed out at the press conference that we had invited them to liaise with their private doctors as early as possible, whereas the outpatient department as well as the accident and emergency department of all private hospitals would operate round the clock. Yet, private doctors would offer consultation services on different days and hours, so we also call on private doctors to make their best efforts to offer consultation services during the Lunar New Year holiday.

 

Certainly, the present situation would be more stressful due to the outbreak of the cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. Generally speaking, 10-odd general outpatient clinics ("GOPCs") under HA would operate during long holidays, and this number would be increased by a few this year, so that at least one clinic would be operating in each of the 17 districts during the Lunar New Year. Instead of going to the A&E Departments, members of the public who are not in an urgent condition can seek treatment from GOPCs. Meanwhile, I also request HA to further enhance the countermeasures in view of the stress faced by wards, so as to cope with the prevailing influenza surge. The overall surveillance work should be conducted on also the latest situation of the cluster of viral pneumonia cases with unknown cause detected in Wuhan, and they have now drawn up countermeasures in respect of each part. However, overall speaking, we expect that―as mentioned by Mr YIU―greater pressure will be faced during the long holidays, so they are now planning to strengthen the relevant measures.