A senior health official has credited an exodus of public medical workers to private hospitals for a steep fall in the number of serious misadventures at private institutions.
Responding as lawmakers questioned a record low of three such incidents this year, deputy director of health Gloria Tam Lai-fun said government monitoring had produced no evidence of any cover-up.
'We think the many public doctors and nurses switching to work in private hospitals have improved their services and it might be the reason behind the falling number,' she said.
Tam was speaking at a meeting of the health services panel three weeks after the failure of Baptist Hospital to report a newborn baby being dropped on the floor during delivery aroused a public outcry over regulation of private hospitals.
She said that as well as being required to report serious events within 24 hours, private hospitals were subjected to routine and spot checks by the Health Department.
'We do not see there has been anything covered up,' she said as lawmakers questioned the sharp fall in reported serious cases.
Government figures showed that three cases of errors involving death or serious injuries were reported by private hospitals this year compared with 10 in 2010, 52 in 2009 and 33 in 2008.
