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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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