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Alex Lo
SCMP Columnist
My Take
by Alex Lo
My Take
by Alex Lo

Strike by Hong Kong medical staff is civil unrest by other means

  • By demanding closure of the border, the protest alliance is seeking to stop mainland Chinese from entering the city while ignoring the far greater number of Hongkongers who cross daily
Alex Lo
Alex Lo
Why you can trust SCMP
The medical strike in the middle of a potential outbreak in Hong Kong is not saving the city from the coronavirus, but endangering the lives of patients.
Using the epidemic in mainland China as an excuse, it is continuing the anti-government protests of the last eight months and fanning anti-Chinese xenophobia in the worst possible way.
The strike by the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance has already disrupted accident and emergency wards and neonatal intensive care units at major public hospitals, as well as cancer treatments.

A recent outfit of the pan-democratic Confederation of Trade Unions, its leaders and supporters are political hacks. Among those who helped form and promote it was Carol Ng Man-yee, former general secretary of Hong Kong Cabin Crew Federation. She spearheaded protests in 2016 against former chief executive Leung Chun-ying over the handling of a piece of left-behind luggage belonging to his younger daughter, Leung Chung-yan. Ng is currently chairwoman of the confederation.

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

Union colleague Rebecca Sy On-na was chairwoman of the Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Flight Attendants’ Association and an active supporter of the protest movement.

Alliance chairwoman Winnie Yu Wai-ming is an administrator at the authority, rather than a doctor. Alliance vice-chairman Ivan Law was a student leader with the Hong Kong Federation of Students, the group that led the 2014 Occupy protests in Admiralty.

What does the alliance want? The wording of its demand and criticism of the government is instructive. After the government introduced measures restricting cross-border movements, the alliance blasted it as “fake” and demanded “genuine” full closure. Sound familiar – “genuine” universal suffrage, not “fake” democracy?

But what does the alliance mean by complete closure? In a formal letter to the government, it was spelt out as blocking all mainland Chinese from entering the city, long the wet dream of localists.

But, consider the numbers. On February 1, 13,382 mainland Chinese vs 115,122 Hong Kong people entered the city. As potential virus carriers, cross-border Hongkongers pose a far greater danger. Yet, nary a word about that from the alliance, only about banning mainland Chinese, whose movements are already curtailed.

Sensibly, the government will require all travellers from mainland China to be placed on a mandatory 14-day quarantine, regardless of whether you are yellow, white, black; Hongkongers or mainlanders; yellow-ribbon or blue. Doctors and nurses, you are trained and paid to take care of patients under your care. Look after them first!
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Medics’ strike civil unrest by other means
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