THOUSANDS of elderly people are being left at risk because of the slow progress of a project to provide them with emergency alarms, say social workers.
So far 23 elderly people are reckoned to have been saved by alarm bells installed by the Housing Department to protect single old tenants.
But social workers warn there are still more than 28,000 elderly being left uncared for because of the slow progress of the project.
The alarm system lets elderly tenants who live on their own alert neighbours in an emergency. Buttons are installed in the kitchen, bathroom, living or bed rooms.
The Housing Department said since 1990, alarms had been installed in 1,088 households in 10 public housing estates with a high single elderly population - Choi Hung, So Uk, Tung Tau, Pak Tin, Cheung Sha Wan, Shekkipmei, Kwai Chung, Tai Wo Hau, Sha Kok, and Kwong Yuen. A department spokesman said six more estates, Tsui Ping, Sau Mau Ping, Lower Ngau Tau Kok I and II, and Shek Lei I and II, would have alarms this year.
Estate liaison officers will visit elderly tenants and assess who most needs the alarms.