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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
Regarding the services of the Designated Clinics (DCs) and the Special Assessment Centres (SACs), a Hospital Authority spokesperson provided the following updates today (March 27):
The DCs today (as at 5pm) provided initial assessment to 24 patients. Patients who require further assessment and treatment have been referred to the SACs. The SACs attended to 27 patients today. A total of 56,694 attendances and 27,422 assessments have been reported at the DCs and SACs respectively since they began operations on September 23, 2008.
In view of the decreasing demand for the screening service, the Hospital Authority has decided that the free health screening service in the 18 DCs will be in operation until next Tuesday (March 31), while the free SAC service will remain in operation until April 9 or when all referral from the DCs have been provided with further assessment service.
In the coming three days, 29 appointments have been made at the DCs.
As of today, the Hospital Authority has reported 15 cases of renal problems suspected to be related to the consumption of melamine tainted milk products.
The Hospital Authority said the free screening service was a contingency arrangement with its prime focus on local children who had an "eligible person" status. Other patients will be referred to private healthcare providers to reserve adequate capacity for locals.
Ends/Friday, March 27, 2009
Issued at HKT 19:16
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