Press Releases
SFH on blood donation, powdered formula, and avian influenza A(H7N9)
Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Food and Health,
Dr Ko Wing-man, after attending a radio programme today (January 26):
Reporter: (On appeal for blood donation)
Secretary for Food and Health: There are various factors affecting the
supply of blood and blood products to our hospitals. Firstly, after entering
the winter peak of our seasonal influenza, the prevalence of other diseases
has also been increasing. The current attendance and admission rates at the
public hospitals are quite high. This situation will also affect the demand
of blood and blood products. Coincidentally, owing to the effect of long
holiday and the fact that some students are preparing for their coming
examinations, we are facing a very tight (blood donation) situation. I would
like to appeal to the public, for those regular blood donors, please
consider making blood donation at this particular time. For those who are
considering becoming the first-time donors, the (Red Cross) Blood
Transfusion Service will be making various arrangements to facilitate their
benevolent act.
Reporter: (On export restriction of powdered formula)
Secretary for Food and Health: Regarding the supply of powdered formula, I
need to clarify that the export restriction (of powdered formula) under the
Import and Export (General)(Amendment) Regulation 2013 applies equally to
all channels of export, including cargo and postal arrangement. The
regulation is that you cannot export any amount of powdered formula for
infants and young children under 36 months, through any of these channels.
We built in an exemption (of carrying not more than a total net weight of
1.8 kilograms of powdered formula by each person aged 16 or above on his or
her first departure from Hong Kong within a 24-hour period) in the Amendment
Regulation and the exemption only applies to those powdered formula carried
personally by travellers. I would like to make it very clear that if any
people want to export powdered formula through cargo or postal arrangement,
they need to apply for an export licence (from the Trade and Industry
Department). Your second question is regarding how to safeguard the local
supply of powdered formula. The Government's view is that we need to
maintain the export restriction (of powdered formula) under the Import and
Export (General)(Amendment) Regulation 2013. Secondly, we need to further
improve the supply chain (of powdered formula for local infants and young
children), especially the pre-ordering arrangement of powdered formula (for
local infants and young children). Thirdly, there is also a need to
strengthen the law enforcement efforts in terms of preventing parallel
trading activities. Through these measures, we hope we could ensure the
stability of supply of powdered formula (for local infants and young
children) through the coming long holiday.
Reporter: (On avian influenza A(H7N9))
Secretary for Food and Health: Regarding the prevention measures for avian
influenza A, we introduced the serological test (for H7 avian influenza on
live poultry) two days ago. The test is a targeted examination against live
poultry imported into Hong Kong. As we all know, (all live poultry bound for
Hong Kong) are managed separately from the poultry population for other
markets on the Mainland. We hope that through the introduction of the H7
serology test, we can safeguard Hong Kong against the threat of avian
influenza A(H7N9) by imported poultry.
Another way (of importing avian influenza A(H7N9)) is through travellers. I
would like to appeal to the public again, whenever you travel to an area
affected by avian influenza A(H7N9), please do not get into contact with
poultry, wild birds or visit a wet market with live poultry.
(Please also refer to the
Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Sunday, January 26, 2014
Issued at HKT 16:55
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