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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) today (June 11) announced the activation of the territory-wide network of Designated Flu Clinics (DFC) upon confirmation by the Centre for Health Protection of local cases of human swine influenza in Hong Kong with unidentifiable source and Government¡¦s announcement of the early mitigation phase for pandemic.
The HA spokesman said the Central Command Committee, under the leadership of Chief Executive Mr Shane Solomon, decided to open eight Designated Flu Clinics (see appended list) from this Saturday (13 June 2009) to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with symptoms of influenza-like-illness (ILI), in anticipation of increasing demand.
¡§Our target patients would be those with ILI symptoms such as fever (body temperature at 38¢XC or above) with either cough, sore throat or both. Symptomatic patients would be given anti-viral treatment. Basing on clinical conditions, patients would be transferred to designated hospitals for further management.¡¨
¡§This will help share out the workload of the Accident & Emergency Departments of public hospitals, which in turn would concentrate on more serious and critical cases.¡¨
The eight DFCs will operate from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm every Mondays to Sundays, including public holidays. The operating hours would be closely monitored and reviewed for adjustment basing on service needs.
The spokesman also reminded the public that the eight DFCs would cease the provision of general outpatient services and suspend all episodic cases booked in advance through the telephone appointment system. To reduce the risk of cross infection, patients with other illnesses are advised to seek medical treatment at other general outpatient clinics in the district or private practitioners. Chronic patients who have been pre-scheduled for follow up at the eight DFCs should proceed to their corresponding clinics (see appended list) with drug refill service according to their date of original appointment and bring along the appointment slip and Identity Card.
Patients attending the DFCs would be charged in accordance with current general outpatient fee schedule - at $45 per attendance for Entitled Persons and $215 for Non-Entitled Persons.
¡§HA has been working closely with the Centre for Health Protection on the necessary follow up actions. All acute hospitals have been informed of the newly confirmed cases and are ready to receive the contacts of the patients for further clinical assessment and isolation treatment if symptomatic.¡¨
¡§Patients' specimen will be collected and tested as soon as possible. To ensure adequate laboratory support for conducting tests for symptomatic patients, the laboratory network at six hospitals, Princess Margaret Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital, Queen Mary Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Tuen Mun Hospital and United Christian Hospital have been providing 24-hour service. They will be working closely with the Public Health Laboratory Centre under Department of Health to meet service demand,¡¨ the HA spokesman said.
Ends/Thursday, June 11, 2009
Issued at HKT 20:18
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