Male nurses face disciplinary action over video of 'playful' massage by patient

Two Kwai Chung Hospital nurses are facing disciplinary action after videotaping a 'playful act' in which a male psychiatric patient massaged a male nurse.

Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food York Chow Yat-ngok said yesterday that video clips of the incident circulated on some websites were genuine and follow-up action had been taken. His comments in a Legislative Council question-and-answer session came after reports that a number of media organisations had received the video.

Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong legislator Tsang Yok-sing asked when the government and the hospital had learned of the incident and if they would review operations to safeguard patients from unreasonable behaviour.

'The Hospital Authority learned about the incident on January 17, upon receipt of an inquiry from the media. The Hospital Authority has not received any complaint in respect of the incident,' Dr Chow said.

Stressing it was a one-off case, Dr Chow said the 'playful' act, which was 'not exactly a massage', had been recorded by another nurse who had a new camera and wanted to test it.

'The video clip was later uploaded to a computer, which could not be turned off as it was out of order ... and for reasons unknown, the clip has been distributed ever since,' he said.

Dr Chow said the patient knew the two nurses very well as they had cared for him over a long period.