Common sense versus rules
The Hospital Authority makes much of its policies, procedures, rules and regulations. A series of blunders at public hospitals in recent months has meant the protective measures have been frequently reviewed and strengthened.
Yet another report has been ordered, this time into an alleged delay by Caritas Medical Centre in treating a seven-year-old boy with an eye injury.
As with an incident at the same facility nine months ago, the matter would seem to be less one of adherence to guidelines than the basic element of health care: common sense.
Emergency treatment was delayed because he did not have any identification. Non-residents are not entitled to subsidised health care. A refundable HK$700 fee was demanded; the child's grandmother, who was accompanying him, did not have enough cash.
Treatment was only given an hour later, when the boy's father arrived with identification. Fortunately, his eye was found to have been only slightly injured.
A lesson should have been learned after last December's debacle. A man collapsed outside the hospital's main office and his son asked a receptionist to get an ambulance. She refused, telling him he should instead call the general emergency number, 999.
When the sick man finally arrived at the hospital's emergency room 26 minutes later, he was declared dead shortly after.
Rules and regulations are essential. But not every situation can be completely covered by checklists. The authority's chief executive, Shane Solomon, has called for an investigation. He would do better to teach his staff to use common sense in emergencies.
This is an edited version of The Leader which appeared in Monday's South China Morning Post
