Confidence must be restored in Hong Kong’s hospitals
- Death of woman who had waited more than 12 hours for treatment a tragic sign of the city’s overstretched public facilities
Hospital accident and emergency wards should offer patients the best chance of survival. But there are concerns about whether there was enough care and attention provided to a woman who died on Monday while waiting to be treated at a public healthcare facility.
The chronically ill patient was found unconscious in a toilet for the disabled at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital and later certified dead. The 58-year-old had arrived at the A&E department of the overstretched unit more than 12 hours earlier.
An emergency call button close to her was in working order, unlike a case in July last year when a man died inside a toilet at Hung Hom MTR station. Only four hours earlier, his family had alerted railway staff that the 66-year-old had gone missing while heading to the lavatory.
The railway company has begun installing sensors that sound an alarm if those inside a cubicle stop moving.
It is encouraging to see the Hospital Authority take similar safety measures in the wake of the latest death. It has ordered hourly checks of all toilets and motion sensors will soon be added at some facilities on a trial basis.