Public Hospital Nurses Are 'exploited Like Slaves'

Nurses at public hospitals in Hong Kong are being exploited and "enslaved", the head of a union warned on Wednesday, as a rally was called for this Sunday to highlight their plight.

Joseph Lee, who chairs the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff, said nurses are being overworked as occupancy rates at almost all public hospitals have soared above 100 percent during the current winter flu season.

"Every winter surge, a lot of patients are rushing to the hospitals. The wards are full and the accident and emergency departments are full of patients. Unfortunately, the government every year tries to make use of nurses' moral obligations of taking care of the patients," Lee said.

"They try to enslave the nurses continuously without adding extra resources especially in terms of manpower," he said.

Lee complained that the current allowances given to nurses for extra hours are not generous enough to make up for the extra burden placed on them.

He told RTHK's Wendy Wong that a lot of administrative hurdles are also preventing nurses from obtaining these allowances.

Lee, who is also a lawmaker representing the health services sector, said demonstrators would gather outside the government's headquarters at Tamar on Sunday to demand a manpower boost at the city's public hospitals.