Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ4: Public hospitals' contingency measures during WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Conference
Following is a question by the Hon Li Kwok-ying and a reply by the Secretary for
Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today
(December 7):
Question:
The Sixth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation will be held in
Hong Kong next week. In the light of the fact that when the conference was held
in various places in the world previously, demonstrations, violence, or even
terrorist attacks occurred, resulting in hundreds of people being injured, will
the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the contingency measures to be taken by various public hospitals,
together with details of the special arrangements for accident and emergency,
specialty, surgery and in-patient services;
(b) of the likely impact on the surgery and in-patient services at various
public hospitals, and the measures to minimise such impact; and
(c) whether it will cooperate with various paramedic organisations, private
hospitals and international rescue organisations to cope with a possible
situation where a large number of injured people need medical treatment; if so,
of the details?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The workload of acute hospitals is expected to increase, if there is any
incident during the Sixth Ministerial Conference (MC6) of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO). In order that public hospitals will have a sufficient surge
capacity to handle potential casualties which may arise, the Hospital Authority
(HA) has already made plans to adjust the non-emergency services of all acute
hospitals on Hong Kong Island and those of the major acute hospitals in Kowloon
and the New Territories during MC6. This is to ensure that public hospitals will
be able to make available the necessary hospital beds and operation theatres at
short notice, when necessary.
In the event of an incident, the ambulance crew of the Fire Services Department
(FSD) will be responsible for providing pre-hospital treatment to the injured.
If necessary, medical teams will be dispatched to the incident site. The
ambulance crew and medical team(s) on site will perform triage on the injured.
Those with more severe injuries would be given priority in the transfer to a
hospital, while those with more minor injuries would be treated at the site. If
necessary, the HA will dispatch additional medical teams from Accident and
Emergency Departments (A&EDs) to the site, taking into account the situation
there and in response to the request of FSD. These arrangements should help
alleviate the pressure and workload of acute hospitals.
Public acute hospitals will render support to each other, so as to ensure that
the injured would be appropriately distributed and avoid the concentration of
all of the injured at any one A&ED. The non-acute hospitals will also make
appropriate prior preparation for opening additional hospital beds to receive
patients from acute hospitals, if and when necessary. The HA has designated a
number of General Outpatient Clinics (GOPCs) to support acute hospitals, if
necessary, by providing treatment to patients with minor injuries in the event
of a serious incident.
HA will maintain a high level of alert between December 10 and 20, 2005 and will
activate its Major Incident Control Centre to coordinate the collection and
dissemination of information. During that period, the HA will maintain close
liaison with the Police, FSD, and the Department of Health so as to ensure
prompt deployment of the necessary medical manpower and other resources.
(b) We are committed to minimising the potential impact on the patients of
public hospitals. In this regard, the HA has already identified the key service
areas for all acute hospitals and will maintain as far as possible all emergency
and necessary medical services at the normal level. In addition, in order to
ensure that public hospitals will have sufficient manpower during MC6 to meet
daily operational needs and handle the emergencies that may arise, the HA has
already requested the medical and support staff at various major acute hospitals
on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon, as well as the medical staff responsible for
key services at all hospitals, to refrain from taking leave during the alert
period, except for exceptional circumstances. All non-acute hospitals within the
territory have also imposed restrictions on the taking of leave of absence.
(c) HA and the Auxiliary Medical Service (AMS) have already made appropriate
arrangements for their collaboration in providing emergency medical services on
site in the event of an incident. In addition, to facilitate staff's participate
in their volunteer work with AMS, the HA has already instructed all public
hospitals to allow hospital staff who are members of the AMS to take leave of
absence, if they are required to report for AMS duty during MC6.
The HA have approached private hospitals in the territory a few months ago and
advised them to consider promulgating a contingency plan for MC6 and beefing up
their services during the Conference. We have also incorporated information on
Hong Kong's private hospitals into the information manual prepared by the Hong
Kong Ministerial Conference Coordination Office for conference delegates, who
have been encouraged to utilise the services of private hospitals for
non-emergency medical needs.
Ends/Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Issued at HKT 13:07
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