A taskforce has been set up to overhaul the territory's hygiene surveillance system - including inspections, enforcement and penalties - in the wake of the cholera outbreak, Governor Chris Patten announced last night.
Director of Health Dr Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun will head the taskforce, comprising representatives from the Urban and Regional Services, Government Information Services and Housing Department, which will monitor procedures 'as a matter of urgency'.
'We need to look at education, we need to look at standards of inspection and surveillance, we need to look at enforcement and penalties, we need . . . to look at training,' Mr Patten said.
'These are not things that should happen in a city like Hong Kong and we must do everything we can to make certain that Hong Kong has the standards of food hygiene which it deserves.' Yesterday, three more cholera cases were detected at hospitals and health authorities confirmed another suspected case. So far, nine cholera cases have been confirmed, including a 76-year-old man in critical condition. Three other people are suspected of having the disease.
A spokesman from the Health and Welfare Branch said last night branch Secretary Katherine Fok Lo Shiu-ching would report regularly to the Governor on the taskforce's work.
The body, which has already met to discuss handling of the cholera outbreak, will investigate hygiene laws and standards, methods of surveillance and inspections, and the penalty system.
Legislators, regional councillors and health officials have condemned the current monitoring system as out of date and unacceptable.
