Hong Kong private hospitals asked to help as public wards overflow amid flu peak

Private hospitals will be asked to take patients from public medical wards that are struggling to cope with occupancy rates of up to 124 per cent amid the peak summer flu season.

The Hospital Authority said doctors from the Department of Health engaged in admin or research would also be invited to provide treatment at public hospitals, where patients are having to wait up to eight hours to see a doctor and temporary beds are laid out in corridors.

These were among a series of measures announced by the authority on Monday with the peak flu season expected to last three more months.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei is under the most pressure, with patients who had undergone emergency treatment having to wait for up to 24 hours before being moved into beds on medical wards.

“This summer, the flu came earlier and is more severe than previous years,” Dr Wong Ka-hing, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said on Monday