Press Releases

Transcript of SHWF on Tuen Mun Road accident

Following is a transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, on Tuen Mun Road accident at Central Government Offices today (July 10):

It is a very unfortunate traffic accident where we had 42 individuals who are either injured seriously or died from the accident in the Tuen Mun Road accident. Obviously all of us feel very sad by this accident and we offer our deepest condolences to the family members of those who have deceased and to the injured. Four hospitals are now doing all their best to save the seriously injured because many of them are critically injured and they are doing their best to make sure that we are able to save their lives.

The Hospital Authority has a system in the four hospitals, because the patients are triaged to four hospitals according to the state of the injured, the Princess Margaret Hospital, Tuen Mun Hospital, Caritas Hospital and Yan Chai Hospital.

So if there are any members of the community who have a query about their friends or relatives may have been among the injured or those who have died. If you go to those four accident and emergency departments, there is an electronic system which should be able to generate the information whether anyone has been admitted or has died from the accident. Because there is a network in the information system, so the information will be available. They don't need to go to all four hospitals to get the information. So, they just go to one of the accident and emergency departments, the information should be available whether a particular person has been admitted or has died from the accident.

The Social Welfare Department has also sent social workers to the site, to the mortuary and to the hospitals to provide support to relatives or friends in those hospitals or in those sites so that if any members of the community require financial support or psychological help or any logistic support that cannot be provided by the hospitals, the social workers would provide the support.

End/Thursday, July 10, 2003
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