HA Playing Down Overcrowding Problem Says Doctor

A committee member of the Hong Kong Public Doctors' Association, Arisina Ma, says the flu season is still putting public hospitals under enormous strain, even though official figures show the situation has improved slightly.

The Hospital Authority says the overall occupancy rate of public hospital medical wards has dropped below 100 cent over the past two days. But Dr Ma criticised the authority, saying it was playing down the problem and the figures were misleading.

"It's lucky that this Chinese New Year it seems that the weather is not that cold. That makes the problem ease a bit," she said. "But however, we must pay attention that our hospital actually already got over-occupied. Just now the figure seems a bit smaller. It doesn't mean our overcrowding has been solved."

Dr Ma said, in medical wards and geriatric wards, you can still see extra beds on the corridor or next to the bathroom.

"Every morning when I go back to work, the ward is almost 100 per cent or 90 per cent occupied," she said.

Dr Ma said patients needed to be discharged at midday in the hope that extra beds would be available for the evening in-take.