Deploy More Rat Catchers Quickly: Priscilla Leung

Lawmaker Priscilla Leung has urged the government to hire more pest-control experts to exterminate rats in the city after three more people contracted a strain of hepatitis E usually associated with the rodents.

Officials had said overnight on Tuesday that the cases were reported in Kowloon City, Southern District and Tuen Mun. One of those infected, who had liver problem, died at Tuen Mun Hospital on May 4.

BPA lawmaker Leung, who represents the Kowloon West constituency, said a group headed by her Kowloon West New Dynamic had surveyed more than 1,200 people earlier this month, and a third of them said they were not happy with the government's rodent-control efforts.

She said a government index on rat infestation is flawed. "Otherwise there won't be so many middle class estates making huge complaints about the appearance of rats problems. It does not only happen at the grassroots level," she said.

Leung said construction work, such as MTR projects, that has been going on in her constituency has been a reason for the increased rat infestation.

The lawmaker also told RTHK's Wendy Wong that the government should be deploying rat catchers who have actual experience in doing the job rather than people who just talk about theories based on studies abroad.