But Carrie Lam agrees money alone is not the answer and says reform of health care system needed
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's government is injecting HK$500 million into the public health care sector as it struggles to cope with a rush of flu patients during the peak season, which earlier claimed the life of a two-year-old boy.
It is the second year in a row that Lam has stepped in with emergency funding to combat a winter flu surge, in whichhundreds have flocked to wards and overworked doctors havedemanded remedies for acute staffing shortages.
The health minister, Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee, said yesterday the government and the medical sector had urged private doctors to provide services during the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins next Tuesday.
Frustration has boiled over as wards reach capacity and staff work long hours.
Lam said the cash would help hospitals implement short-term measures, such as hiring part-time doctors and nurses, moreeffectively, but she was lukewarm about hiring from overseas, saying staff were concerned there was no consensus on the issue.
"Like last year, the government has reserved a one-off allocation of HK$500 million that the Hospital Authority can come back anytime to apply for," she said.
Dr Tony Ko Pat-sing, theauthority's director in clusterservices, said they were grateful for the extra funding.
"It has given us a great support and assurance that, in case there are other measures we need toimplement, we can approach the bureau to use this money," he said.
But Ko estimated the authority had sufficient resources to meet the needs of the winter flu season.
Apart from the HK$520 million allocated by the authority earlier to different hospitals for measures during the winter surge, HK$400 million has been reserved to support public hospitals in case of any extra measures.
The boy who died on Monday was the first infant flu fatality this year. Among 234 adults struck with severe flu, 109 have died.Seventeen children have suffered serious complications.
Kindergartens and childcare centres have been hit hard by outbreaks, prompting the government to bring forward their Lunar New Year holiday to curb the spread. As of Monday, 397 outbreaks had been recorded in preschools - more than 70 per cent of all cases in the city.
Public hospitals employ about 40 per cent of the city's doctors and treat more than 90 per cent of inpatients. Lam said staff would receive a special honorarium for their hard work, and overall funding for public hospitals would also be increased.
She said she agreed with medical professionals who advocated a wholesale overhaul of the system.
"Instead of keeping on increasing hardware, hospitals and manpower, we should have a fundamental change in Hong Kong's health system to put more emphasis on primary health care, health prevention and screening, so that hospitals need not be overloaded," Lam said.
The Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff, the city's biggest nurses' group, said the extra HK$500 million should be usedto solve problems such as staff shortages and the handling ofunnecessary paperwork.
It pressed the authority toreveal details and a timetable for using the extra funds, and urged the government to regularly monitor the use of the money.
Medical sector lawmaker Dr Pierre Chan welcomed the government's response but wondered if the money could solve the problems faced by hospitals. He said the HK$500 million given last year could not truly relieve the manpower issue, or improve the environment on wards.
"Medical and paediatric wards, and accident and emergency departments, are most badly affected [during flu season] resources and manpower should be focused on these three most severe departments," Chan wrote on a blog.
The Hospital Authority said 14 inpatient wards it managed at 15 acute hospitals were all full on Monday. At Pok Oi Hospital in the western New Territories, theoccupancy rate was 123 per cent.
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