Hospital Authority activates five more designated clinics
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The Hospital Authority (HA) announced today (February 28) that it will activate five more designated clinics tomorrow (March 1) to cope with the rapid and huge increase in number of confirmed patients, which has overwhelmed the capacity of public hospitals and the community treatment and isolation facilities.
"The HA had activated nine designated clinics earlier for confirmed cases of COVID-19 to help provide diagnosis and treatment for the people with positive test results, and are presenting with relatively mild symptoms of infection (e.g, fever, cough, sore throat) requiring medical advice while awaiting admission to hospitals or isolation facilities. As at 5pm on February 27, the nine designated clinics have provided over 13 000 attendances. The five newly activated designated clinics are Violet Peel General Out-patient Clinic, Aberdeen Jockey Club General Out-patient Clinic, Tseung Kwan O (Po Ning Road) General Out-patient Clinic, Fanling Family Medicine Centre and Yan Oi General Out-patient Clinic," the HA spokesperson said.
In order to implement appropriate infection control arrangements, people seeking consultation must make appointments by telephone to avoid people queuing at the clinics. The healthcare staff of the designated clinics will provide appropriate treatment according to the patient's clinical condition, and will transfer the patient to the hospital for further treatment if required.
The designated clinics are open from Monday to Sunday, including public holidays, from 9am to 1pm, and 2pm to 5pm. Eligible patients should call the selected designated clinic to make an appointment, and will be provided the earliest appointment timeslot in the next 24 hours.
Normal general out-patient services at the designated clinics, including the related evening, Sunday and public holidays service, will be suspended starting from tomorrow. In addition, in order to focus manpower and resources to support the services of the designated clinics, other general out-patient clinics (GOPCs) will also temporarily suspend services from tomorrow onwards. Episodic patients who, having an appointment made at the abovementioned clinics via telephone booking or mobile application "HA Go", are advised to seek consultation at other GOPCs in the district or at private clinics. Chronic patients with follow-up appointments at the clinics are advised to refill their drugs at the designated Medication Refill Clinic in the district on the appointment day by presenting their appointment slips and identity cards. For the list of Designated Clinics for COVID-19 Confirmed Cases and the corresponding Medication Refill Clinics, see Annex 1; for GOPCs with temporary services suspension and the corresponding Medication Refill Clinics, see Annex 2.
Vaccination services (including COVID-19, seasonal influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations) at the five clinics will also be suspended. Eligible citizens intending to receive vaccinations are advised to go to other selected GOPCs or service points for the vaccinations. The Government will send text messages to citizens who have made appointments for COVID-19 vaccination at the related designated clinics and advise them to go to other community vaccination centres for vaccination service.
The distribution of deep throat saliva specimen collection packs and collection service of specimens at Violet Peel General Out-patient Clinic, Aberdeen Jockey Club General Out-patient Clinic, Tseung Kwan O (Po Ning Road) General Out-patient Clinic will also be suspended starting from the same day. Citizens are advised to go to other selected GOPCs or service points designated by the Government at specified time for obtaining the specimen collection packs or submitting the specimens. Details on the specimen collection packs distribution points and specimen collection points are available at the following website: www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/early-testing.html.
The HA will closely monitor the service needs and operation of the designated clinics to dovetail with the latest developments of the epidemic. The HA once again thanks the public for their patience and for being accommodating in complying with the arrangements so that the isolation facilities in public hospitals can accord priority to the confirmed elderly, young patients and patients with special medical needs. With the gradual increase in community treatment and isolation facilities, the remaining confirmed patients will be admitted in an orderly manner.
Ends/Monday, February 28, 2022
Issued at HKT 20:25
Issued at HKT 20:25
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