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In response to media enquiries, Mr Shane Solomon, Chief Executive of Hospital Authority (HA) clarified as follows:
I would like to apologise for the confusion and frustration that may have been caused to the parties concerned with my remarks made after the Health Services Panel this morning. I would like to clarify that the political motives which I mentioned were totally unrelated to the recent request for salary adjustment by Hospital Authority doctors and their unions. As these remarks may have created concerns on the legitimacy of their intention and recent actions, I have decided to withdraw them.
Finally, I wish to assure the public that the Hospital Authority will always openly and honestly respond to medical incidents and do our utmost to improve our systems to avoid occurrence of similar medical incidents in the future.
Ends/Monday, June 25, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:10
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