Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ16: Noise nuisance caused by helicopter rescue service
Following is a question by the Hon Leung Kwok-hung and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today
(November 24):
Question:
I have received complaints from some Eastern District residents that the
residents in the district suffer from noise nuisance because the helicopter
rescue service is mainly carried out at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital
(PYNEH). They have pointed out that helipads are at present provided at PYNEH
and Tuen Mun Hospital (TMH) for emergency casualty evacuation. According to the
view of the Government Flying Service (GFS), landing at TMH is restricted due to
safety considerations, hence under normal circumstances, emergency patients and
casualties are mainly transferred to PYNEH which provides 24-hour emergency
services; yet, the noise generated by such rescue helicopters is not subject to
regulation, and while the residents understand the importance of rescue
operations and have no intention of raising objection, they hope that the
authorities will help them solve the noise problem. In this connection, will the
Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of landings made by rescue helicopters at various public
hospitals in the past five years;
(b) apart from the measures mentioned by GFS and the Civil Aviation Department
to members of the Eastern District Council on March 18 this year, what other
specific measures the authorities have to mitigate the aforesaid noise problem
in Eastern District, and whether they will allocate additional resources to
assist residents in installing noise mitigation facilities; and whether they
know if the Hospital Authority (HA) will divert such service to other hospitals
in the long run; and
(c) given that there are over 20 days in a year on which helicopter operations
at PYNEH are precluded by adverse weather conditions, making it impossible to
carry out emergency casualty evacuation within the shortest possible time,
whether it knows if HA will consider constructing additional helipads at
suitable public hospitals throughout Hong Kong; if HA will, when the helipads
will be constructed; if not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Among all public hospitals under the Hospital Authority (HA), the Pamela Youde
Nethersole Eastern Hospital (PYNEH) and Tuen Mun Hospital (TMH) are provided
with helipad facilities. The Government Flying Service (GFS) will adopt various
means to transfer casualties to hospitals according to their medical conditions.
Under the Emergency Casualty Evacuation and Rescue Service Arrangement drawn up
by GFS and HA, "Type A+" casualties (i.e. patients with life-threatening
conditions) will be transferred to hospital by helicopter to ensure that they
could be sent to the Accident and Emergency Department for treatment as soon as
possible. "Type A" casualties (i.e. patients with emergency medical conditions
other than life-threatening conditions) and "Type B" casualties (patients with
lesser emergency) will be first conveyed to GFS's Wan Chai heliport, or
depending on weather conditions, to its Headquarters at the Hong Kong
International Airport, before being transferred by ambulance to a hospital
nearby for treatment.
(a) The number of landings made by rescue helicopters at the two public
hospitals with helipad in the past five years is set out in Annex.
(b) and (c) To reduce the noise impact caused by helicopter landing at hospital
to residents in the vicinity, GFS, having consulted the Civil Aviation
Department (CAD), has adopted flight paths away from residential areas as far as
possible, and taken noise mitigation measures including the use of low noise
helicopters as well as slowing down the rotor speed of helicopters to reduce the
noise level during the transfer of casualties at helipad.
In providing a helipad, apart from compliance of design standards and safety
requirements, the safety of the flight paths would also need to be taken into
consideration. At present, since there are many high-rise buildings in the
vicinity of most public hospitals with Accident and Emergency Departments,
suitable and safe flight paths for helicopters may not be available. In
addition, the existing hospital blocks have not been designed to cater for the
landing by helicopters. Therefore the structure of the buildings is not capable
of supporting the load of a helicopter and a helipad. There exist difficulties
in providing a helipad on the roofs of these existing hospital blocks. Also,
landing of helicopters may cause vibration to the hospital blocks and affect the
medical equipment in the building.
In planning for new acute hospital, we will consider providing helipad
facilities at the hospital depending on the need and circumstances. The
provision of helipad facilities needs to be technically feasible and meets the
relevant safety standards and statutory requirements. For instance, we may need
to conduct environmental study or Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in
accordance with the EIA Ordinance, in order to minimise the environmental impact
of the facilities to nearby residential dwellings. HA will maintain
communication with the relevant departments, including GFS and CAD, in
considering the provision of helipad facilities.
Ends/Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Issued at HKT 16:06
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