A woman claims her son suffered permanent brain damage after staff at a camp for boat people denied him access to medication for serious kidney ailments.
Eleven-year-old Chau Vinh Sau lapsed into a coma and spent a year in hospital with kidney disease in 1996-97. The condition emerged while he and his family were being held in Whitehead detention centre.
His mother, Vuong Thi Sao, plans to sue the Secretary for Justice, representing the Correctional Services Department and Department of Health, for negligence, claiming CSD staff denied her son the medicine prescribed for his condition, while camp medical staff told him to 'drink more water' when his health deteriorated.
An endorsement of claim setting out the Government's alleged negligence was filed in the High Court yesterday. A full outline of the personal injuries action is expected to be filed in coming days.
Ms Sao said she and her estranged husband fled Vietnam about nine years ago. They were held in various camps with their son and elder daughter. The couple also had twin sons while in detention.
The couple are now separated and she lives with her four children in Tuen Mun. She receives $1,460 a week support from the charity Caritas-Hong Kong after winning the right to remain in the SAR.
