Press Releases
Government releases latest blood test results of citizens affected by lead in drinking water incident
The Government today (October 28) released the review results of blood lead
levels for citizens affected by the lead in drinking water incident.
As regards citizens whose blood lead levels have been found to be borderline
raised, the Hospital Authority (HA) has, according to established measures
under the care plan, continued to monitor their blood lead levels after the
first blood test. For children aged below 18 and lactating women, blood lead
level testing would be conducted in three months' time, and repeated
according to clinical assessment, until their blood lead levels return to
normal. For pregnant women, blood lead level testing will be conducted
monthly, until their blood lead levels return to normal or they have
delivered, whichever is later.
As of today, the blood lead levels of a total of 101 citizens have been
reviewed. Among the latest batch of 72 samples, 43 (60 per cent) show normal
blood lead levels. The blood lead levels of 29 citizens are still on a
borderline raised level. Among them, there are 28 children and one lactating
woman. Their blood lead levels in the review are in the range of 5.02 to
27.32 micrograms per decilitre. The Department of Health (DH) will, as soon
as possible, inform the citizens concerned of the test results in the review
and conduct further investigation into their lead exposure. The HA will
follow up on the above citizens and carry out clinical intervention as
appropriate.
Members of the public may call the DH's hotline (2125 1122) regarding lead
and its health effects. Appointments for blood tests for those who belong to
the more easily affected groups and are living in affected public rental
housing estates can also be made by calling the hotline.
As at 5pm today, the DH had arranged 5,664 appointments for blood testing
and the DH's hotline had received 7,814 telephone enquiries.
Ends/Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Issued at HKT 19:31
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