Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
/ KUCINTA SETIA
Image : Video Screenshot
The epidemic in Hong Kong is heating up, and the medical capacity will soon be insufficient. The square cabin hospital rebuilt in the premises of HK AsiaWorld-Expo has announced its official opening, according to Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection (CHP).
Li Liye, a consultant doctor in the emergency department of Tin Shui Wai Hospital: "We initially estimate that 20-30 patients will be admitted on 1 August and 2 August. The goal is to divert patients from the community here and then give them appropriate treatment and appropriate hospitalization arrangements."
There are 500 hospital beds in Hall 1 of AsiaWorld-Expo that can accommodate patients with mild symptoms between 18 and 60 years old. There are locker rooms and ventilation systems on both sides. At present, 14 Hong Kong medical staff are stationed, and special personnel are available to monitor patients' conditions 24 hours a day. In addition, there are six experts appointed by the National Health Commission from Wuhan who have practical experience in square cabin hospital operations.
The six experts assigned from Wuhan to support Hong Kong's fight against the epidemic are the core members of Wuhan University People's Hospital to take over the Wuchang Fangcang Hospital, including Wan Jun, the vice president of Wuhan University People's Hospital and the president of Wuchang Fangcai Hospital , Ma Yonggang, deputy dean of Wuchang Fangcai Hospital, deputy director of the medical department of Wuhan University People’s Hospital, Cheng Yujia, director of the Office of Infection Prevention and Control Office of Wuhan University People’s Hospital, and Liu Chunying, deputy director of the nursing department of Wuhan University People’s Hospital. The other two experts of the support team came from Zhongnan Architectural Design Institute Co., Ltd. and Wuhan CITIC Architectural Design Institute Co., Ltd.
In order to avoid possible situations, Wuhan University People's Hospital has prepared customized suitcases for each member, which contains clothes, shoes, various personal protective materials and various drugs.
In addition, at the request of the Hong Kong government, a nucleic acid testing support team of 60 testers from Guangdong Provincial Health Commission have been organized by the National Health Commission. They include seven team members who are clinical laboratory technicians and have set off for Hong Kong for inspection on 2 August 2020 (Sunday).
The "Mainland Nucleic Acid Testing Support Team" composed of the Guangdong Medical Team has a Hong Kong pass endorsed stay time of 1 month, while the "Inner Local Cabin Hospital Support Team" experts from Wuhan can stay in Hong Kong for half a year.
At the same time, Xie Junming, a Hong Kong businessman who had been fighting the epidemic in Wuhan and the chairman of Wuhan Yaxin General Hospital, has returned to Hong Kong to assist Hong Kong in conducting tests. When interviewed by Ming Pao, he said that 10 to 20 laboratory technologists from the hospital had arrived in Hong Kong and hoped to assist Hong Kong citizens in nucleic acid tests on or before 15 August 2020. The laboratory technologist from Wuhan will work as a laboratory assistant in a private laboratory in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong chemist will be responsible, but he still needs to coordinate with the Hong Kong government and find a different private laboratory to discuss about the test results.
Xie Junming pointed out that on 30 July 2020 he had brought 50,000 nucleic acid testing reagents to Hong Kong from Wuhan. He said, "These reagents are all destined for the EU and Germany." They are still subject to the approval of the Hong Kong government. The results are expected next Monday. As for who will "pay the bill" for bringing the staff to Hong Kong and providing the reagents, he said that the money issue has not been discussed at this stage, and he is only discussing with the Hong Kong government how to help conduct the test.
Zhong Nanshan, the leader of the high-level expert group of the National Health Commission, recently suggested that Hong Kong should be screened for all people.
Xie Junming believes that the national test can find "asymptomatic patients", and will give Hong Kong people peace of mind. However, if Hong Kongers want to take nasopharyngeal swab samples, the communities need to search places for citizens to queue up for sampling but these might increase the risk of cross-infection. He suggested that private clinics distribute tubes to the public, and after they are returned by the public, they will be tested by laboratories. However, the actual effect depends on the daily test volume of private laboratories in Hong Kong and the wishes of the central government in Beijing and the Hong Kong government.
In response to the swift actions of Wuhan and Guangdong experts, Hong Kong experts oppose National Health Commission's intervention.
Junming said, "The national screening test is only meaningful if it is completed within two weeks. Wuhan can do 100,000 tests on 7 days," but it is difficult to ensure that Hong Kong can complete the test within two weeks.
The Infectious Disease Advisory Committee of CHP Liang Zichao believes that PRC's screening methods may not be able to be duplicated in Hong Kong.
Liang Zichao, Chairman of the Infectious Disease Advisory Committee of CHP, said, "I will not agree to the screening of all Hong Kong people. The screening must be completed within 7 to 10 days. Results will not be released until the community has no cases within 14 days. Without this condition, we will always be chasing the epidemic, it's endless and slashing."
The Civic Party Legislative Council Member Guo Jiaqi also questioned earlier that Hong Kong is absolutely capable of coping with the huge amount of testing but Carrie Lam has used Chinese-funded institutions and not Hong Kong's. She suspects Carrie's act is to send Hong Kong people's DNA data to the central government in Beijing, thus encroaching people's rights to privacy and freedom of choice.
Sources : Ming Pao, China News Network and New Tang Dynasty Television
Refs:
No comments:
Post a Comment