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Following is a question by the Hon Gary Fan Kwok-wai and a reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (December 18):
Question:
The Department of Health (DH) is gradually outsourcing the health screening service (screening service) provided at immigration control points (control points). Some health surveillance assistants (HSAs) have indicated that they are worried about losing their jobs. They even query that DH has adopted harsh management measures and increased their work pressure recently, in an attempt to force them to resign so as to implement outsourcing of screening service. For example, some of the staff members who reside on Cheung Chau and had all along worked at the control point in Hong Kong-Macao Ferry Terminal have been deployed to work at the control point in Lok Ma Chau, and when they fail to spot mainland women who are pregnant for 28 weeks or more among the travellers arriving at Hong Kong, they will be required to write a report to give explanations. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) given the two recent cases of human infection of H7N9 avian influenza which were suspected to be imported from a place outside the territory, whether the authorities have assessed if the screening service contractors have sufficient manpower to cope with the demand for screening service in case of a major epidemic; if they have, of the details of the assessment; and how the authorities monitor the quality of the service provided by the additional staff members employed by the contractors;
(b) of the number of non-local pregnant women spotted by HSAs through visual inspection at the control points in the past five years, and how the authorities assess the effectiveness of their work; and
(c) given that some HSAs have pointed out that the number of mainland travellers visiting Hong Kong under the Individual Visit Scheme has continuously increased in recent years, and that due to the Immigration Department's gradual replacement of traditional counters with Automated Passenger Clearance System (e-Channels) for immigration clearance for travellers holding electronic Exit-Entry Permits for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macao, the time for immigration clearance will be shortened, making it increasingly difficult for them to carry out the work of spotting non-local pregnant women through visual inspection, whether the authorities have reviewed the manpower of HSAs and the deployment of them to various posts, so as to alleviate the work pressure on these staff members?
Reply:
President,
The Department of Health (DH) has since 2003 implemented health surveillance measures at boundary control points (BCP) and developed relevant guidelines on body temperature checking and a referral mechanism. Trained health surveillance staff (regardless of whether they are government employees or contractors' staff) will take immediate and appropriate follow-up action on any suspected cases of communicable diseases. Health surveillance stations at BCPs also serve as contact points and provide assistance for travellers who have symptoms of communicable diseases. They also act as health education publicity points where disease information will be disseminated to travellers to enhance their awareness. Through regular practice and drills, the mechanism has been running satisfactorily.
On the other hand, DH has since 2007 been deploying Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs) to assist in identifying non-local pregnant women by visual inspection at a number of BCPs. Non-local pregnant women identified will be diverted to immigration counters or inbound traffic lanes designated by the Immigration Department (ImmD) for immigration clearance and checking by ImmD's officers. ImmD and DH review the effectiveness of immigration measures relating to non-local pregnant women from time to time and maintain close liaison for better coordination of work.
At present, contract HSAs of the Port Health Office (PHO) under DH conduct health surveillance at nine BCPs; whereas the work at the Hong Kong International Airport and the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal has been taking up by staff of service contractors. The operation has been very smooth so far.
In accordance with the advice of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, DH redeploys front-line staff to different BCPs on a regular basis with a view to enhancing the department's corporate culture of integrity. At present, HSAs who have worked at the same BCP for three years or more will gradually be redeployed to other BCPs. In handling the redeployment, PHO will consider the requests of individual staff and take into account their health and family circumstances. PHO also provides shuttle bus services to staff on duty at remote BCPs.
In response to the situation of staff wastage of HSAs and to provide greater flexibility for the handling and provision of services, PHO will outsource the health surveillance services at Shenzhen Bay Control Point and Man Kam To Control Point from the end of this month. The HSAs currently working at Shenzhen Bay Control Point and Man Kam To Control Point will be redeployed to other BCPs according to established arrangements. At present, DH does not have any timetable for outsourcing health surveillance services at other BCPs.
I would like to emphasise once again that DH's arrangement in outsourcing health surveillance services will not affect the employment contracts, contract terms and contract renewal arrangements of existing HSAs. Since the beginning of this year, PHO has been explaining and discussing this arrangement with all HSAs through interviews, meetings in groups and internal publications, etc., and repeatedly emphasising that existing staff will not have their contracts affected.
My reply to Hon Gary Fan's questions is as follows:
(a) DH will provide necessary training for all staff engaging in health surveillance work (be they government employees or staff employed by contractors). Training will cover temperature checks, infection control measures, the wearing of protective equipment and the conduct of health checks for people with fevers, etc.
Service contractors are required to arrange a sufficient number of trained staff to cope with the work. In response to emergency situation where redeployment of large amount of manpower may be required in short period of time, DH and the contractors have arranged for a large number of contractor staff to be trained for health surveillance work in advance
DH also regularly assesses the performance of the service contractor staff and their ability in handle emergencies.
We believe that both DH's contract HSAs and service contractor staff are able to provide services upon receiving training and accumulating experience through actual practice.
(b) and (c) To complement the implementation of the zero delivery quota policy for Mainland pregnant women whose husbands are not Hong Kong residents, the Administration has stepped up inspection of Mainland pregnant women at BCPs. Currently, Mainland pregnant women who are pregnant for 28 weeks or more must produce a Confirmation Certificate on Delivery Booking issued by hospitals in Hong Kong for checking by immigration officers when they enter Hong Kong or else they may be refused entry.
In terms of immigration inspection, HSAs of DH are responsible for conducting visual inspection at some BCPs. Suspected cases would be diverted to appropriate immigration counters of the Hong Kong side for follow up by ImmD's officers. Since the above visual inspection is conducted in the walkway leading to immigration counters of Hong Kong, it would not be affected by the usage of e-Channels.
The numbers of passenger cases referred by HSAs of DH in the past five years are listed in Annex.
The number of Mainland pregnant women gate-crashing Hong Kong hospitals for delivery without prior booking has dropped substantially from 150 per month during the period between September and December 2011 to only 20 per month during the period between January and November 2013. DH will continue to deploy manpower in accordance with the operational needs of BCPs.
Ends/Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:38
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