Hong Kong private hospitals pledge to reserve 1,000 beds for non-Covid patients as city reports 27,765 infections
- Move by 13 private hospitals expected to help ease pressure on public health care system, with more than 30 per cent of manpower needed to staff them
- New platform launched to provide support to infected patients at home or in community isolation facilities
Private hospitals in Hong Kong have pledged to reserve a total of 1,000 beds mostly for non-Covid patients to help ease the pressure on the public health care system, while a new platform has been launched to provide support to infected patients at home or in community isolation facilities.
The city confirmed 27,765 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday. A total of 15,809 cases were logged through the online government portal by residents using at-home rapid antigen tests, in addition to 11,956 confirmed through polymerase chain reaction screenings. Hong Kong’s overall Covid-19 tally stood at 761,550.
According to the Hong Kong Private Hospitals Association, the 1,000 beds equalled about 20 per cent of the capacity at private health care facilities and more than 30 per cent of manpower would be needed to staff them all.
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“The present commitment of all 13 private hospitals is notwithstanding the harsh fact that all are suffering from manpower loss to the tune of 30 to 40 per cent,” the association said. “We will therefore need time to generate the required number of beds and staff through gradual discharge of existing private patients, as well as suitably reducing intake of non-urgent private patients, to achieve the committed target.”
Dr Lau Ka-hin, a chief manager at the Hospital Authority, said this was “very good news” for Hong Kong.
“Because of the shortage of manpower in the Hospital Authority, we are happy that private hospitals have provided many beds for our patients, including patients after operation, rehabilitation for convalescents,” he said. “After stable patients or non-Covid patients are transferred to private hospitals for treatment, we have more beds and capacity to treat our Covid patients.”
Lau also revealed a new platform was launched on Tuesday to support patients quarantined at home or in community isolation facilities.
