Alice Wu

Opinion | Cathay Pacific’s failures must inform Hong Kong’s A&E crisis response

If the Hong Kong government is going to ease the pressure on the city’s A&E departments, it would do well to learn from the failures of Cathay Pacific. In both cases, the flu season that exacerbated the staffing shortage can’t be blamed

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Patients wait for treatment at the A&E department of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong’s Jordan district on January 9. A rise in flu cases in the city has increased pressure on public hospitals, leading city leaders to explore increasing costs for people who go to A&E departments for non-emergency treatment. Photo: Eugene Lee

Alice Wu

Published: 9:30am, 15 Jan 2024

The winter flu season is here. Health officials have made that official. The number of outbreaks in schools and care homes has doubled and is expected to keep rising for some weeks. Masks, though not mandatory, are back, with many people heeding calls to wear them on public transport and in crowded areas.

As long as we have received the flu vaccination and remain vigilant when it comes to personal hygiene, there should be little to worry about. Health complications from catching the flu are possible for young children, the elderly and the immunocompromised.

This is all the more the reason for the rest of us to do our part, especially in not overwhelming the accident and emergency (A&E) departments of hospitals.

The government also raised the issue last week, with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu saying the city should review charges for A&E services to prevent abuse. This came just days after Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said authorities would be reviewing public service charges that had remained the same for several years and those based on a “user pay principle” in an effort to trim the ballooning budget deficit.

It is unfortunate that Chan didn’t go into the specifics as to what these public services are. It is even more unfortunate that the review of A&E charges is being seen through the lens of money.

Hong Kong has one of the best public healthcare systems in the world, but an ageing population is putting a strain on the system and exacerbating the ongoing problems of overworked healthcare workers and the staffing shortage in the public health sector. The government is also correct in raising the long-standing issue of A&E service abuse.

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