Press Releases
SFH on drug incident
Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and
Health, Dr York Chow, at a stand-up media session in the Legislative Council
Building today (April 22):
Reporter: The latest incident shows emergency measures after Europharm
incident are not working.
Secretary for Food and Health: Not entirely. This is because the increase of
vigilance in the last month had actually detected many abnormalities of the
trade. I think you know that bit by bit we have actually dealt with some of
those incidents. But it is important to ensure that the trade also have
their responsibility. My visit to Australia last week has shown in
Australia, the government only visits the factories once every 12 to 18
months. The trade themselves are responsible for the corporate governance,
internal audit and quality control of the drug production, so we must ensure
that our trade in Hong Kong also have that sort of accountability and
responsibility, and also we must ensure the regulations that we have are
able to confine their responsibility to the trade. I have also asked the
Department of Health to strengthen the regulatory activities, including
particularly in the recent weeks, to look at the related factories in Hong
Kong to ensure they are doing the job that they should be doing.
Reporter: (about the exercise of power by the Government)
Secretary for Food and Health: I think the Government should exercise
appropriate power, particularly in this case, since the Europharm incident
is well known to Hong Kong, and particular to the trade. They should have
the sensitivity to check all the products, particularly those that are
produced after the Europharm incident. There is no excuse for the trade this
time for not being able to detect what they have done before. I have also
informed the Department of Health that they should take vigilant actions,
and particularly possible prosecutions for this particular factory.
(Please also refer to the
Chinese session of the transcript)
Ends/Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Issued at HKT 19:38
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