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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Leung Ka-lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (October 28):
Question:
It has been reported that in last month, the drinking water samples taken from several drinking fountains in the Prince Philip Dental Hospital were found to have a lead content exceeding the provisional guideline value set out in the Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality published by the World Health Organization. Regarding the safety of drinking water, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the progress and outcome of the investigation conducted by the Hospital Authority (HA) into the above incident, including the category and number of persons affected and the remedial measures taken by HA for the health of the affected persons;
(2) given that the health of pregnant women and children is more likely to be affected by lead in drinking water, whether it knows if HA will deploy personnel to take water samples from the gynaecological and obstetric wards as well as the paediatric wards of public hospitals for lead testing (water sampling tests) so as to ensure the safety of the drinking water for patients' consumption; if HA will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(3) whether it knows if HA will deploy personnel to conduct water sampling tests for the nursing homes, medical rehabilitation centres and hospice centres under HA's purview so as to ensure the safety of the drinking water for patients' consumption; if HA will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(4) whether the Social Welfare Department will deploy personnel to various types of residential care homes for the elderly to conduct water sampling tests so as to ensure the safety of the drinking water for consumption by the long stayers there; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(5) whether it knows if HA has conducted a comprehensive risk assessment for the Hong Kong Children's Hospital under construction in respect of the materials used, the methods of construction (including the use of prefabricated components), etc. for its water supply system so as to ensure the safety of drinking water upon the commissioning of the hospital; if HA has conducted such an assessment, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(6) whether it knows if HA will deploy personnel to conduct water sampling tests for the staff quarters of public hospitals so as to ensure the safety of the drinking water for consumption by its staff?
Reply:
President,
Having consulted the Labour and Welfare Bureau, the Hospital Authority (HA) and the Architectural Services Department (ArchSD), our reply to various parts of the question raised by the Dr Hon Leung Ka-lau about the safety of drinking water in public health institutions and residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) is set out below.
(1) The drinking water samples from the Prince Philip Dental Hospital (PPDH) (Note 1) that were suspected to have excessive lead content were all taken from the boiler tanks in staff pantries. These boiler tanks are for use by hospital staff only and patients will not be affected. At present, PPDH has stopped using all boiler tanks, and has provided electric kettles for its staff instead. In order to ensure the quality and safety of drinking water, PPDH will follow the guidelines provided by the Water Supplies Department (WSD) in taking water samples from the taps inside the hospital for lead content tests. The Food and Health Bureau will closely monitor the test results and take suitable follow-up actions.
(2), (3) and (6) Toxicology experts and related specialists of HA have earlier carried out risk assessment on the safety of drinking water in hospitals and recommended that at this stage water tests should be conducted in paediatric wards with inpatients aged below six. Over the past few weeks, HA has collected water samples from the paediatric wards and milk kitchens of Wai Yee Building of Caritas Medical Centre, the Duchess of Kent Children's Hospital at Sandy Bay, United Christian Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital, Yan Chai Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital for testing. Upon testing, the lead levels in all samples were confirmed to be within the acceptable limit set out in the guidelines of the World Health Organisation. HA will continue to arrange water tests in other hospitals in accordance with the recommendations of toxicology experts and related specialists.
At the same time, HA has purchased sufficient number of water filters. Once there are water samples that are found to contain excessive lead, the hospital concerned will immediately install water filters to ensure the safety of drinking water.
On the other hand, HA will closely monitor the results of the above-mentioned tests and take them as reference for further risk assessment on the water supply facilities at other clinical areas and the workplaces or rest areas (Note 2) of staff in the hospitals. HA will work out appropriate measures having regard to the risk assessment to ensure the safety of drinking water.
(4) Having regard to the views of professional departments, the Government considers that priority should be given to the more easily affected group, i.e. children aged below six. In this connection, the Government accords priority to conduct water sampling tests to welfare units serving children who are aged below six and have to stay in the units for long hours and consume drinking water in the units. On August 28 and September 30, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) provided all welfare units (including RCHEs) with health advice about reducing lead exposure from the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health and the advice on the installation and use of wall-mounted kettles provided by WSD. Such advice has been uploaded to SWD's website. SWD has, via the Government Logistics Department, also assisted subvented welfare units (including RCHEs) in ordering water filters that reduce lead content from suppliers direct through bulk purchase.
(5) The construction works of the water supply system of the Hong Kong Children's Hospital has not yet started. ArchSD will strictly monitor the materials used and the construction process of all works items to ensure their compliance with the requirements of WSD. To ensure the quality of drinking water, ArchSD will clean and sterilise the water supply system and test water samples according to the requirements in the WSD's Circular Letter before handing over the Hong Kong Children's Hospital to HA. Besides, ArchSD will study the recommendations of the Task Force on Excessive Lead in Drinking Water of the Government and devise relevant procedures to ensure the quality of drinking water.
Note 1: PPDH is a teaching hospital established under The Prince Philip Dental Hospital Ordinance (Cap. 1081) to provide facilities for the training of dentists and other persons in professions supplementary to dentistry. It is not a hospital under the management of HA.
Note 2: HA at present does not provide staff quarters for staff to reside in. HA only provides call rooms and overnight rooms for doctors on-call and nurses between shifts to take rest.
Ends/Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Issued at HKT 18:00
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