Press Releases
SFH on Hong Kong Central Hospital and influenza A (H5)
Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) made by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, after attending a public
function this afternoon (June 22):
Reporter: (On the closure of Hong Kong Central Hospital.)
Secretary for Food and Health: The Department of Health has approached the
Hong Kong Central Hospital to sort out some of the measures that they need
to take before the closure, regarding the care for patients and patient
records and so on. We must ensure that they have the right manpower and
expertise when they are operating the hospital and make sure that the right
procedures are being taken in order to care for the patients. Everything
needs to put patients first.
Reporter: (On whether the Hospital Authority will help the Hong Kong Central
Hospital handle their patient records.)
Secretary for Food and Health: Regarding the patient records, I do not think
they need to have any support or help from the Hospital Authority. But we do
have a contingency plan just in case their patients need extra care and
cannot find any alternative placement. Then, of course, the Hospital
Authority can step in and help out.
Reporter: (On lowering the influenza response level from "Serious" to
"Alert".)
Secretary for Food and Health: Today we have confirmed that the risk of
avian influenza, particularly for pandemic, has reduced because 21 days have
been passed since the last imported case to Hong Kong. We are now stepping
down from the contingency plan, from the level of "Serious" to "Alert". That
also means that a lot of activities in the health-care institutions
including hospitals will resume to normal.
Reporter: (On whether Hong Kong will have a serious outbreak of bird flu.)
Secretary for Food and Health: We have a contingency plan for pandemics and
we have exercised that during the H1N1 emergence in 2009, showing that the
plan is workable and suitable for our setting. Of course, every time when we
have a new disease, we have to analyse what the characteristics of that
virus are, what people will be affected most, what is the pathogenesis that
will affect human beings. All these require some analysis before we can deal
with them. Our contingency plan is workable and we can always have the
support of our laboratories, our tests and expertise in Hong Kong to make a
very suitable decision in case. We are well prepared for any type of
pandemic and of course we do not wish that would happen in Hong Kong. If you
look at the report from overseas regarding the manipulation of a virus so
that it can change to a more villainous virus, the World Health Organization
has a very strong stand that such methodology should not be publicised.
(Please also refer to the
Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Friday, June 22, 2012
Issued at HKT 19:08
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