Press Releases

Transcript of remarks by Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, at the Central Government Offices today (January 7):


Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food: As we said, avian flu is something which is endemic in chickens in Hong Kong, so we will occasionally see cases of avian flu. The objective is really to control the infection from spreading. We have a very good surveillance system and a good control system. But with experience and changing circumstances, our surveillance and our methods of control have got to be modified. I have met with the department heads to look at our experiences and to see whether we need to modify our responses to control avian flu.


There are three primary objectives in terms of control of avian flu. Vaccination is only one of these and is only a complement. The most important procedures and strategies to control avian flu are really the cleanliness and the hygienic conditions of our markets and our farms. The second is biosecurity to make sure we separate humans from birds and poultry from wild birds because once with the introduction of the virus into the farms, it spreads very quickly. Of course we know that now and around in Hong Kong wild birds are infected with the flu because they are carriers of the avian flu. So we need to have good biosecurity measures and we need to have bird proofing of our farms which is currently been done. But it is still proceeding and is not hundred per cent yet. We need to make sure that the wild birds don't come into contact with poultry because the wild birds will have avian flu. So if you don't bird-proof the farms, obviously the chickens will get infected. Avian flu can also be carried by humans into the farms because if there are diseases from one farm which is infected and the workers bring in these contaminated species into another farm, then you can see that it spreads very quickly. The biosecurity measures are the main step of controlling infections in the farms. And of course I have said the hygienic condition is important. Vaccination is just a complementary measure because there are many many types of avian flu and you cannot vaccinate against all the types. You can see that we have talked about H5 but there is also H7. There are various types of avian flu and you cannot depend on vaccination to control it. These are the measures that we are looking at. Of course we are now reviewing our experiences and making sure that we can reduce the risk.


Just to emphasise that as long as we have live poultry in Hong Kong, we will always have the risk of avian flu. Avian flu is not all terrifying, it is really the potential of this virus to go to men. So far the avian flu that we are seeing now in Hong Kong is not the type that went into men in 1997. Obviously we cannot be complacent about this because we really don't want the virus to mutate because the virus has a great propensity of mutation. There is always going to be a risk in Hong Kong as long as we have live poultry. We have got to balance the risk with the benefits in terms of the population's preference for eating live fowl. We need to work very closely with the trade to make sure that we have an appropriate balance of the risks and benefits. Of course these measures could only be implemented if we have got the cooperation from the trade. So we are meeting with the departments to revise our procedures and responses and then we will consult the trade to make sure that in the future we can continue to reduce the risk to an acceptable level.


Reporter: (on dumping of human parts)


Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food: I think it is certainly a very regrettable incident and I think the university itself is doing investigation to look at it. I think whenever these incidents happen, it is usually related to two major factors. One is the system factor. Whether there are procedures and guidelines that the university has issued in terms of dealing with these human parts. I think these are the things the university will look at. The other is of course even if there are rules, regulations and procedures, whether people follow them. So the individual has responsibility. I believe that these are the things the university is looking at. It is certainly very regrettable and the university has accepted responsibility and they have apologised.


(Please also refer to the Chinese portion)


End/Tuesday, January 7, 2003

NNNN