Press Releases

Transcript of Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food on QEH case

Following is a transcript of the remarks made by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, at the West Wing lobby of the Central Government Offices today (November 26):

Dr Yeoh: The case in question is a 29-year-old man who was visiting Hong Kong. He was in China for the week in Dalin. He came over to Hong Kong on the way back to his place of residence. When he was in Hong Kong, he had fever and some muscle pain. Because of this, he went to see a doctor and was referred to a private hospital where the private hospital suspected this patient may have some pneumonia. So, he was sent and referred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital early this morning.

Initial assessment from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital is that this individual now has very low rate fever. The symptoms are of upper respiratory tract infection and the X-ray does not show very obvious signs of pneumonia. So, the clinical assessment by the clinician in charge is that the likelihood of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is not high. 

But we are maintaining a high alert and we are assuming that there is still a possibility that this patient may be a case of SARS. So, we are taking all precautions. The hospital has taken precautions and this patient is now in one of our new isolation beds.

We expect that the initial results should be available this afternoon and once the results are available, we will let the media and the public know about the initial results of this individual by PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) test. So, the initial results should have been available this afternoon and we will let you know the results as soon as possible.

I think this case just highlights the need for us to continue to be on the alert. As you know, we have three main strategies to have a very close and effective surveillance system, to do a very comprehensive preventive programme which, as you know, we have now had a preventive programme that covers 17 different sectors. Other than the health sector, we now have preventive programmes extended to other sectors like the nursing homes, the welfare sector, transport sector, hotel and tourism industry, schools etc. So, all those preparatory measures are in place and then also we have an effective and rapid response system. In case we have a resurgence of SARS that we have a good system where we would be able to mount an emergency response as soon as possible. So, all those are in place. 

As you know, we have done a series of drills and exercises to test our contingency plans and there were over 20 of these drills in the last two months. These include a drill which we have done last week which was co-ordinated by the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau and involved a number of departments and agencies. We also had a drill in the private hospitals. 

So, all these have been put to test because we now have much better infection control facilities in our hospitals. As at the end of this month, we will have 900 new hospital beds with purpose-built isolation facilities. The Hospital Authority is also keeping stock of protective gear. It will be able to provide supplies that last three months. Of course, these involve the face masks, gowns, etc. They have stocked up over 16 million surgical masks and over 1.6 million N95 masks. Of course, last time at the start of the SARS epidemic, we were in short supply of some of this protective gear. So, all these supplies are in stock now. We are much better prepared to deal with any possible resurgence of SARS.

But I just want to remind the public that it is very important to continue to maintain vigilance, to maintain good personal hygiene and to facilitate good environmental hygiene. Because that is also one of the key strategies in containing infectious diseases.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion)

Ends/Wednesday, November 26, 2003
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