Doctors Divided Over Mandatory Covid Testing

A government proposal requiring certain segments of the population to be tested for Covid-19 has drawn mixed views from the medical community, with those in favour of testing people with mild symptoms insisting that could help identify possible coronavirus patients but critics questioning whether such a move is ethical.

Health Secretary Sophia Chan has said the government was looking at the legal framework for mandatory coronavirus testing for specific groups. Infectious disease expert Yuen Kwok-yung, who has been advising the government on the pandemic, said people showing mild symptoms should be required to take a Covid test.

On Wednesday, Civic Party lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki criticised the government’s plan, saying forcing people to submit their specimen samples is medically unethical.

Kwok, a doctor himself, said the proposal would deter those who have fallen ill but don't want to be tested for Covid-19 from seeking treatment from doctors.

He said the government should instead boost its voluntary testing programme by handing out more sample bottles and opening more specimen collection centres.

“Over the world, there wasn’t any other country except mainland China to do this so-called mandatory testing. This was actually against the usual principle of medical doctors,” he said.

“In fact, under the present legislation, any doctors cannot force the patient to hand over any specimen from the body, or even ask the patient to undergo any treatment, even the drugs, no matter how good intention we are going to give the patient.”

But David Hui from the Chinese University, who like Yuen advises the government on the pandemic, said the aim of mandatory testing is to encourage people with mild symptoms to come forward and make use of testing facilities in the community.

Hui said some private doctors may not be fully aware of their patients' conditions while treating them, so getting them tested is a precautionary move.

Hui also said he's in favour of punishing people who display mild symptoms but still refuse to be tested for Covid-19.