Whitewashing of Information Despite War on Deadly Virus

Hong Kong hospitals are racing to contain the Wuhan coronavirus. However, medical staff have revealed to the press that they were told by nursing officers and senior nurses not to wear N95 masks but surgical masks when working in the general ward so as not to spread fear among patients.

Meanwhile, a doctor working in the general ward developed symptoms of the coronavirus in Princess Margaret Hospital, just 2 days after treating patients with confirmed symptoms of the Wuhan pneumonia

Source: Apple Daily

#MedicalStaff

#Newspaper

Ho Pak Leung: send police to locate Hubei tourists
Lam Chi Wai: no objection if accompanied by medical staff

(30 Jan) Ho Pak Leung, Director of Carol Yu Centre for Infection at the University of Hong Kong, suggested that police could be dispatched to patrol the hotels. Lam Chi Wai, Chairman of the Junior Police Officers’ Association, said he didn’t object the suggestion, but medical staff should go along with the operation.

Lam Chi Wai replied the inquiry from South China Morning Post that he didn’t object this suggestion. However, these operations involve certain professional medical knowledge. The purpose is to convince the identified targets to cooperate. A medical expert can explain to those who may need quarantine and make immediate inspection.

He also mentioned, if police have the authority conferred by law to quarantine identified targets compulsorily, they would cooperate with the government to enforce the law. As team members of professional disciplined services, they will not resist.

Ho Pak Leung mentioned in the radio programme that he was worried that some Wuhan visitors to Hong Kong would be hiding in the hotels. They may become invisible cases and act just like “time bombs.” That’s why the HK government should learn from Macau to dispatch police to search for visitors who have been to Wuhan or the residents from Hubei in the hotels, and assist them to return to mainland China for quarantine and receive treatment.

Source: The Stand News
https://www.thestandnews.com/society/何栢良倡警找出湖北旅客-林志偉-不反對-但應有醫護隨行/

#MedicalStaff #InvisibleCases #Quarantined

Protests, Strikes, Home-made Bombs: Hong Kong-China Border Remains Open

On Feb 2, the first death outside of China was reported in the Philippines. In Hong Kong, the 15th case of the Wuhan pneumonia was confirmed: The patient was a 72-year-old woman whose son had also caught the disease earlier.

As many countries issued ban on Chinese and those who had travelled to China, an increasing number of airlines also cancelled flights to and from China; however, the Hong Kong-China border remains open.

In addition to the inadequate supply of masks and protective gears, the Hong Kong Government's refusal to close the border with China had stirred up much discontent among the citizens. Worse still, the government not only continued to set up quarantine centers in residential areas without consulting the public; but it also ignored citizens' demand to deploy unused hospital and the People's Liberation Army garrison base as quarantine centers.

For consecutive two days, Mei Foo residents have been protesting against the installation of an isolation camp in a heritage site. A union representing public hospital medical workers has approved strike starting from Feb 3 and this would be Hong Kong's first strike undertaken by medical personnels in history.

On the same day, even the fourth home-made bomb was found in Lo Wu, one of the most frequently used ports between Hong Kong and China. A message demanding the government to shut down the border to stop the new coronavirus from spreading to Hong Kong was later on released on the internet.

As of Feb 2, the new coronavirus emerging from Wuhan, China has reportedly infected over 14,500 people across China and reached 24 nations worldwide.

Source: RTHK

Leading Microbiologist Yuen Kwok-Yung: Medical Staff Go on Strike because Many Precautions and Measures Are Ignored by the Authorities
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/16468

#HomemadeBomb #Strike #Protest #CloseBorder #MedicalStaff

Hong Kong Government to Beijing : Carry Out Political Retribution on Medical Staff

Read here:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/17746

#23Feb #PoliticalRetribution #MedicalStaff #Strike

Hong Kong Government to Beijing : Carry Out Political Retribution on Medical Staff

The recent epidemic report submitted by the Chief Executive’s Office to the Central Government has specifically mentioned the largest medical staff strike in Hong Kong history. The report described the medical union that initiated the strike as “black sheep”. They were also falsely labeled as affiliated with anti-extradition protestors. It was also mentioned in the report that the government has demanded the Hospital Authority to take action against those who organized the strike, stating that these “black sheep should not be allowed to continue working in the hospitals”.

In the submitted report, the Chief Executive’s Office criticized the union’s demand to close the border, saying it was only a “slogan” and that many citizens were being misled in forming this mainstream opinion. The report mentioned that the SAR government has refused to be involved, and that Chief Executive Carrie Lam has turned down meetings with unions. They emphasized SAR government’s strong stance by reiterating they will not enforce a total border shutdown, will not impose travel restrictions on mainland residents and will respect mainland authorities in handling immigration matters.

Ivan Law, the Vice-Chairman of the HA Employees Alliance criticized the report as not reflecting the facts and believed that it was meant to discredit the union. He pointed out a few false descriptions in the report: that the reason for terminating the strike was not due to public dissatisfaction; the reason for the strike was not political; and the demand for border shutdown was not discriminatory against mainland citizens.

Law stated that although the members of the union were prepared to face political retribution and funds have been reserved to aid those members on strike. He said he “did not expect that the government would issue a written statement explicitly asking the Hospital Authority to take action against striking members.”

Source: Apple Daily #23Feb
Image: https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/17745
#PoliticalRetribution #MedicalStaff #Strike

Sharing Full-Face Masks and Washing Wounds Without Gloves: Insufficient Protective Gear Remains a Severe Issue in Hospitals

Insufficient protective equipment in hospitals continued to be a predicament for many frontline medical staff. Hospital Authority Employees Alliance (HAEA) sent a formal letter to Hospital Authority and the Labour Department to report complaints such as sharing a full-face mask among 10 staff at Princess Margaret Hospital, and using bare hands to wash wounds due to the lack of disposable gloves at Shatin Hospital.

HAEA stated that they have been receiving complaints from members reporting cases of senior officials suspending the use and supply of protective equipment, which is seriously endangering the safety of medical staff.

In the medical ward of Princess Margaret Hospital, staff complained that full-face masks have to be shared among 8-10 of them for 2 weeks, and they can only sanitize it with alcohol wipes between uses. A medical staff reported that they had to wear a plastic bag over their head as protection since they are not allowed to wear a full-face mask even when the patient is coughing at them.

Medical staffs at Shatin hospital medical ward also reported the serious problem of having an insufficient supply of disposable gloves, so that staff will need to wash wounds, test blood sugar and change patient’s diapers with their bare hands. Some staff even had to use the same pair of gloves to bathe more than one patient.

HAEA mentioned that according to the occupational safety and health regulations, it is the responsibility of Hospital Authority as the employer to provide sufficient personal protective equipment to ensure that employees work in a safe environment. HA Employees Alliance also demanded them to explain and clarify whether their recent change in the guidelines has met international standards. They also urged the Labor Department to investigate.

Source: Stand News #Mar11
#MedicalStaff #Masks #ChinesePneumonia

#Newspaper #Church

Sheng Kung Hui Holy Trinity Cathedral prays for introducing medical staff from mainland China, suddenly deletes content about praying for National Security Law

(1 Aug) Sheng Kung Hui Holy Trinity Cathedral, in its latest instalment of the weekly magazine “9th Day of the Pentecost”, originally had included prayer items to “pray that the national security law can bring a prosperous and stable future to Hong Kong, pray for the steady enforcements despite the difficulties, and pray for the successful implementation of such laws in the areas of politics, economics, legal aspects and people’s livelihood” in the “Social, country and the world” section of its weekly prayer topics. However, the aforementioned content was found deleted in the online version of the magazine.

In addition, although there has been heated debates around whether Hong Kong should introduce medical staff from mainland China to assist in dealing with the virus, in the latest weekly prayer topics of the Cathedral, the controversial topic “pray for the high feasibility for Hong Kong to introduce excellent mainland doctors to combat the virus along with local doctors” still remains .

Source: Apple Daily
Translated by: Hong Kong Echo

#ShengKungHui #MedicalStaff #NationalSecurityLaw #Religion

Confidential document says Beijing refuses to fund local CDC, bureaucracy causes collapse of the medical system and loss of epidemic prevention and fighting function

The initial outbreak of Wuhan COVID-19 in China has spread globally. The leaked documents received by CNN not only reflect China's mishandling of the epidemic but also reveal that China's health care system has been riddled with problems for a prolonged period of time and that when the epidemic escalated, officials and medical personnel generally took it lightly, further contributing to the global outbreak of the virus.

After SARS in 2003, the Chinese authorities spent 167 million USD (about 1.3 billion HKD) to set up a notification system. Theoretically, the system allows regional hospitals or disease prevention centres to directly report outbreaks to the central government and share relevant information with the entire country. However, according to a report in the paper, the system itself slowed down, and other bureaucratic constraints have further impeded information flow.

Compared to major cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, Wuhan's medical system received relatively few resources. An audit report completed last October pointed out that Hubei Province's disease prevention centre was underfunded. The lack of proper testing equipment and motivated medical staff, especially in the early stages of the outbreak when they still used SARS-era equipment, was completely neglected by the Chinese Bureaucracy.

#China #SARS #COVID19 #Pandemic #Epidemic #WuhanVirus #CNN #MedicalSystem #MedicalStaff

Source: Apple Daily #Dec01

https://hk.appledaily.com/international/20201201/BPEWL3L7FZC3RFGNWLBEWQ5P7M/