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Letters | Hong Kong coronavirus crisis: why threaten medical strike in city’s hour of need?
- Hospital staff have a duty of care towards their patients and, indeed, many have stuck to their posts and deserve gratitude
- In Hong Kong’s hour of need, everyone must to pull together, not threaten a strike or, as some businesses have done, raise prices on masks and alcohol wipes
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Hong Kong is facing the fallout from the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak across the border, further straining sentiment regarding mainland China.
Fears of a surge in infected patients in Hong Kong hospitals already overcrowded from the peak flu season has put additional pressure on frontline medical workers.
So much so that they resorted to drawing lots to decide who works in the “dirty” wards (“Hong Kong medical staff draw fortune sticks to decide who works in quarantine”, January 27). Not only that, some Hospital Authority workers said they would strike next week unless masks were made mandatory and visitors from mainland China were banned.
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While the drawing of lots highlights the dire concerns of frontline medical staff, a strike is not a proper response.
Medical workers are right to be concerned about the risks of caring for coronavirus patients. My mother, who was a nurse midwife, was required to work in the quarantine wards during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak, and I remember her telling me of the concerns then. There are undeniable risks but this is also about a sense of responsibility.
My mother was also frightened, but she noted that there was more medical equipment supplied for protection in her department. The authorities sought to eliminate as much risk for them as possible.
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