The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority (HA) today (April 12) announced that 13 general out-patient clinics (see table below) will remain open and the service quota will be increased by around 1 800 to cope with demand over the upcoming Easter holidays from April 14 to 17. Members of the public are reminded to make advance booking through the telephone system as usual for appointments.
 
     The HA Chief Manager (Cluster Services), Dr Ian Cheung, said that the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Departments of public hospitals will also remain open as usual to serve members of the public with urgent medical needs during the holidays. It is anticipated that the A&E service demand will surge during the extended holidays. Non-urgent patients should consider seeking consultations at general out-patient clinics or with private doctors.
 
     "As public hospitals are seeing a surge in service demand, the daily attendance at A&E Departments has consistently exceeded 6 000 in the past week. We expect that the demand for A&E services will likely surge, especially in the latter part of the holidays and also the first working day following the extended holidays. As a result, semi-urgent and non-urgent patients might have to wait longer for consultation and treatment. I appeal to the general public for understanding and co-operation during the wait.
 
     "Furthermore, with admission to medical wards via A&E Departments close to or above 1 000 daily for the past week, we anticipate medical wards to continue to be very crowded. We appeal for patients' co-operation in hospitals' arrangement to transfer stabilised patients to rehabilitation hospitals to vacate hospital beds in acute hospitals for new admissions."
 
     Dr Cheung also took the opportunity to remind people travelling outside Hong Kong during the holidays to avoid making contact with birds or poultry and to reveal their travel history to healthcare staff when seeking medical consultation. The general public should adopt a healthy lifestyle, cover the nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing, maintain proper hand hygiene and wear a mask when developing symptoms of respiratory infections in order to avoid further spread of the disease. Members of the public are also advised to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine as early as possible to protect themselves and others. 
 
     To facilitate public understanding of public hospital services, A&E waiting time information, key statistics such as A&E attendance, the medical in-patient bed occupancy rate and hyperlinks to private healthcare services websites are available on the HA website (www.ha.org.hk/goto/wintersurge/en) and the "HA Touch" mobile App.
 
     Members of the public are welcome to call the HA Infoline 2882 4866 to inquire about the general out-patient clinics service arrangement, or to find a private doctors for consultation during the holidays by calling the Hong Kong Medical Association Medilink 90000-222-322 (Operating from April 14 to 17).
 

District	Name of Clinic	Telephone number for booking	General enquiry
Hong Kong Island	Shau Kei Wan Jockey Club General Out-patient Clinic	3157 0077	2560 0211
	Violet Peel General Out-patient Clinic	3157 0000	3553 3116
	Aberdeen Jockey Club General Out-patient Clinic	3543 5011	2555 0381
Kowloon	Kwun Tong Community Health Centre	3157 0687	2389 0331
	Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital Family Medicine Clinic	3157 0118	2354 2267
	Robert Black General Out-patient Clinic	3157 0113	2383 3311
	Yau Ma Tei Jockey Club General Out-patient Clinic	3157 0880	2272 2400
New Territories	Lady Trench General Out-patient Clinic	3157 0107	2614 4789
	Lek Yuen General Out-patient Clinic	3157 0972	2692 8730
	Shek Wu Hui Jockey Club General Out-patient Clinic	3157 0965	2670 0211
	Tai Po Jockey Club General Out-patient Clinic	3157 0906	2664 2039
	Tuen Mun Clinic	3543 0886	2452 9111
	Yuen Long Jockey Club Health Centre	3543 5007	2443 8511

 
Consultation Hours:
 
Friday, April 14 and Monday, April 17
9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm
 
Saturday, April 15 and Sunday, April 16
9am to 1pm

Ends/Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Issued at HKT 15:40

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