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To enhance Hong Kong's preparedness for the management of emergencies, especially those involving mass fatalities, the Department of Health (DH) invited a delegation from the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) to come to Hong Kong for experience sharing, particularly on their lessons learnt from managing the 9-11 emergency.
"During a two-day symposium completed yesterday (November 9), the systems and plans of New York City and Hong Kong for response to major emergencies involving mass fatalities were presented for exchanges and discussions by officials of the two cities," a DH spokesman said.
"Today, the New York City delegation will be meeting with some of the stakeholders and will also visit facilities of the Hong Kong Police Force and the DH," the spokesman continued.
Subscription for the November 8 and 9 symposium was overwhelming, with full-house attendance by some 350 local and overseas participants. A number of disciplines were represented, with professionals involved in fields including bereavement support, body disposal, disaster victim identification, emergency medicine, maintenance of civil order, medico-legal death investigation, public health and search and rescue in attendance.
In his opening remarks, the Director of Health, Dr P Y Lam, said that the world is facing increasing threat from natural disasters, epidemics, conflicts and violence, which can impose devastating effects on human health. Dr Lam stressed that multi-disciplinary collaboration in preparedness and capacity building are two of the keys for cost-effective and efficient response during major emergencies with fatalities.
Six speakers from OCME's Special Operational Response Team as well as local experts from the Security Bureau, the Hospital Authority and the DH delivered talks and responded to participants' enquiries during the symposium.
"The programme was the first of its kind in Hong Kong and has accomplished the objective set. It provided a forum for first-person comment on positive and negative lessons learnt and how best to get prepared for emergencies and management of mass fatalities in modern times. Together with our other activities like field epidemiology training and periodic crisis drills, we are striving to keep ourselves in the best shape to safeguard Hong Kong's public health," the spokesman said.
Ends/Thursday, November 10, 2011
Issued at HKT 15:31
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