'Private Hospitals Have Done Infected Patients Wrong'

Top microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung says private hospitals have done some patients wrong by transferring them to public hospitals because they tested positive for Covid.

The Hospital Authority said on Wednesday that 60 kidney patients who had been receiving dialysis at private hospitals were transferred to public hospitals after their Covid tests came back positive.

Yuen, who advises the government on the pandemic, said this was not the right move, being as public hospitals are now overcrowded and like "battlefields".

The University of Hong Kong professor said private facilities should help public hospitals by taking in Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms, saying their wards, similar to those in public hospitals, are well ventilated and their staff equipped with protective gear.

He said private hospitals only need to take infection control measures like their counterparts in the public sector do when caring for Covid patients.

The authorities said earlier that they were in discussions with private hospitals for them to take in non-Covid patients from public institutions.