What one public doctor thinks about the Hong Kong medics’ strike

Hospitals and the community at large, this senior doctor believes, need to stay alert but not be alarmed; unfortunately, the strike is causing more fear and havoc within the system than justified

Alex Lo

Published: 9:00pm, 4 Feb 2020

Why you can trust SCMP

It has been easier to lose friends than to keep them in the past eight months. And I don’t mean “unfriending” people on Facebook. Political differences are enough to end a friendship that has lasted more than half a lifetime.

I am, however, delighted that an old classmate has reacquainted with me in the past few days. He was motivated to communicate because of the strike by public medical staff against the government for not closing the border.

My friend supports restricting the cross-border movements of people. However, he is angry at a minority of his colleagues for taking industrial action – worse, for pressuring others to join them.

A senior specialist at a leading public hospital, he thinks of his job as apolitical. It’s all about taking care of patients while protecting your own health by minimising risks.

“By risk, I mean something that is imminent and quantifiable,” the good doctor said. This means taking precautions in an emerging epidemic.

“I am not an epidemiologist but we are trained on how to deal with an outbreak and protocols to activate in our hospitals in such an eventuality,” he said.

Hong Kong hospital strike kicks off as top doctor backs mainland China border closure calls

Whether the border stays open or shut is a more remote question and more than a purely medical issue. For him, the real question for doctors is to gauge the actual threat from what is known about the new coronavirus and institute the appropriate level of response in hospitals. He doesn’t think the strike is an appropriate response, quite the opposite.

Considering the 17 confirmed cases in the city, local public hospitals were already alert and had taken adequate precaution, he said.

But what about an outbreak from a porous border that would overwhelm the system?

“The system is already overwhelmed because of the flu season,” he said. “The strike will only make it worse.”

He added that seasonal flu had caused more complications and killed more patients at his hospital than the coronavirus.

“During the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), experts at Queen Mary Hospital not only successfully fought the disease, but also not a single medic was infected because they took proper measures,” he said. “That’s what we doctors know how to do.”

Does he think closing 10 of the 13 border crossings is an adequate response instead of shutting the entire border? “Honestly, I don’t know,” he replied.

I wanted to quote him by name, but he adamantly refused. “I don’t want to be doxxed,” he said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: What one doctor thinks about medics’ strike

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