Hong Kong health crisis in need of long-term cure
The extra HK$500 million cash injection to help public hospitals cope with the winter flu outbreak is welcome, but a manpower shortage must also be tackled
The cash-rich Hong Kong government has stepped in with an extra HK$500 million (US$63.9 million) injection to help public hospitals cope with an unusually severe winter flu outbreak this year. Belated as it is, the funding is a much-needed shot in the arm for our heavily overloaded health care system.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has responded to the crisis with the right sense of urgency.
The additional funding, to be drawn from the Hospital Authority’s reserve and reimbursed from the public coffers in the next financial year, is a practical way to get around an otherwise cumbersome funding approval procedure.
The move to scrap the ban on giving salary increments to newly recruited and promoted staff in the first two years is also a good way to boost staff morale.
That the intervention came only after nurses had gone public with their frustration with the manpower crunch is to be regretted.