Hong Kong buying more blood-testing devices to cope with fallout from tainted water scare

Health authorities are buying more blood-testing devices to offer more tests and speed up the process, with more public housing residents affected by potentially lead-tainted water expected to undergo examination.

That was revealed by the health minister Dr Ko Wing-man yesterday as around 100 children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers continued taken to have the lead level at their blood checked in Princess Margaret Hospital, Kwai Chung.

Ko said nearly 2,000 residents from three public housing estates had made appointments for blood tests, excluding several hundred from Lower Ngau Tau Kuk estate - the latest estate where excessive lead was found in water samples.

He did not say how many devices were to be bought, but said as authorities started to expand the water testing officials would have to be prepared for the possibility that more estates could be affected.

The devices measure levels of lead in the bloodstream. They are to be used in the lab, not the field.

"The equipment procured will mainly be used at the back end to support our laboratory examination of blood lead levels," Ko said, adding that the current appointment arrangement remains unchanged.