Clinics, Doctors Urged To Tackle Holiday Flu Surge

Overwhelmed health authorities on Tuesday called on private clinics, charity organisations and Chinese medicine practitioners to help ease the pressure on public hospitals, amid warnings of a surge in flu cases over the Lunar New Year holidays.

Health Secretary Sophia Chan said the government has asked private doctors and Chinese medicine practitioners to open their clinics over the holidays. She hoped charitable organisations would also keep their clinics open to alleviate overcrowding at public hospitals.

But according to a website run by a union of doctors, only six clinics are listed as working in Hong Kong on the first day of the new year.

Public hospitals are already overwhelmed by the number of flu cases and experts have warned of a surge during the first week of next month.

Speaking after a press conference, Chan said officials are compiling a list of private clinics that will remain open during the holidays.

Charity groups say three clinics and 14 Chinese medicine clinics run by them will be operating during that time.

Authorities have expanded the quota for public clinics to provide services to an additional 3,900 or so people during that period.

The Hospital Authority meanwhile said it has hired more than a thousand part time medical staff to tackle the current winter flu surge.

More than 900 of these part-timers are nurses, while 19 are doctors and 12 are allied health professionals.

The authority also said it has already distributed HK$520 million to tackle the current surge in demand for services.

This year, an additional HK$400 million has been set aside for use if needed.

Tony Ko, the authority's director of cluster services, said there should be enough money to tackle the current surge, but officials are grateful for the Chief Executive's allocation of an extra HK$500 million.

He said although it is difficult to predict what is going to happen, the latest financial backing gives the authority confidence that it can implement the necessary measures to meet needs.