Hong Kong A&E units see rise in number of severe patients as winter flu season continues
Hospital Authority braces for another influx as city schools set to resume this week after the Lunar New Year break
More severe patients have been treated in public accident and emergency departments this winter flu season than in the past, Hospital Authority officials said on Friday, while bracing for another possible surge of patients when schools resume next week.
Officials also said overall bed occupancy rates at paediatric wards in the past week had been fluctuating amid a persistently high number of elderly and chronically ill patients being admitted to medical wards from February 15 to 21.
Dr Li Kai-ming, chairman of the authority’s coordinating committee in accident and emergency, noted that A&E units had seen more severe patients in the current flu season, with the proportion of such patients going up to 40 per cent, higher than the peak of 39.2 per cent in the summer flu season last year and 38.9 per cent in the previous winter flu season.
He believed such an increase was due to older patients, who were more likely to suffer from different types of illnesses at the same time.
Dr Tony Ko Pat-sing, deputising director in cluster services, said public hospitals had prepared sufficient drugs and rapid tests to handle patients with flu symptoms.