THE tragic deaths and horrifying injuries of schoolchildren, the ultimate sacrifice by two of their teachers, the dangerous search and rescue operations undertaken by volunteers, and the dedicated efforts of doctors and nurses, must have touched all our hearts and gained our admiration, in Saturday's hillside tragedy. But one shudders to learn that the facilities of Prince of Wales hospital are inadequate to deal with seven critically burned children.
The first thing that comes to mind is how could the medical staff deal with (God forbid) a serious aircrash on the airport runway, which would almost certainly cause a heavier toll in burns victims? About 20 years ago, a sister in a government hospital confided in me that in case of a serious aircrash the hospitals did not even have enough bandages to deal with a large number of victims.
Have we not progressed since that time, now that we hear there is difficulty dealing with seven burns victims? Could someone from the Hospital Authority tell us the whole truth, whether the press report is true that resources are insufficient and what they intend to do about it? ELSIE TU Kowloon
