A teacher died of malaria after his treatment was delayed for 11/2 days because a hospital could not process his blood test quickly and then failed to forward the results, an inquest heard yesterday.
Simon Davies was airlifted to hospital after a private doctor suspected he had contracted the disease.
But hospital doctors did not begin treating the 34-year-old Briton for malaria until 36 hours later.
Blood test results showing he had contracted a deadly form of the disease were delayed because hospital blood laboratories only operated during the daytime, the Coroner's Court was told.
Davies, of Pui O, Lantau, died in Princess Margaret Hospital on February 16 from plasmodium falciparum, a virulent and fast spreading form of malaria.
'It can progress from benign to fatal within 48 hours,' malaria expert Dr John Simon told the inquest. 'The blood test is the only scientific proof of whether a man has malaria.' Davies, an English teacher at the Chinese University, suffered 'flu-like symptoms' two weeks after returning from a holiday in Burma.