An eternal wait: Some Hong Kong patients have to wait more than 20 hours to get into hospital amid overcrowding
The overcrowding is caused by patients seeking treatment for cold-weather illnesses like flu
A flood of patients told how they had to endure long waits – at times over 20 hours – at one of the busiest accident and emergency (A&E) departments in the city as public hospitals saw unprecedented demand amid the cold weather.
Retired housewife So Cheng, 64, complained that she and her 80-year-old husband, who suffered severe stomach ache, felt “very traumatised” for having to wait over 20 hours for a bed at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
READ MORE: Flu season hits Hong Kong hard: hospitals packed over capacity, visits to 24 hour clinics double
“It has been a hard time for both of us,” So said. “My husband now sleeps on a temporary bed in the corridor, and before that all we could do was just sit and wait.”
The hospital in Jordan recorded a bed occupancy rate of 130 per cent in its medical wards on Wednesday – the highest among all 16 public hospitals.
A “very serious” warning sign was put up at its accident and emergency department, alerting newcomers that “it will take an average of 15 hours” for a patient to be admitted to its “overcrowded” medical wards.
Bed shortages meant patients – most of them elderly – had to face long waits on trolleys, while at least 10 extra beds were set up in corridors in an A&E ward to cope with the extra demand.