Police slam Hospital Authority for not informing them that suspect arrested in sexual assault case was HIV carrier
Letter from all four staff associations calls for notification system and guidelines, but Aids support group claims worries are unnecessary
All four of the city’s police staff associations have urged the Hospital Authority to strike a balance between concern for patient privacy and protection of the public against contagious diseases after officers handled a suspect from a public hospital without knowing that he was an HIV carrier.
The incident involved the recent arrests of four mentally disabled male patients, aged 38 to 56, from Kowloon Hospital after they sexually assaulted a mentally disabled boy, 17, staying in the same ward on several occasions between December and earlier this month.
Officers later learned that one of the four suspects was an HIV carrier. They were upset that they had not been informed about the suspect’s condition so that they could take precautions against infection.
In a letter to Hospital Authority chairman Professor John Leong Chi-yan on Tuesday, the Police Force Council Staff Associations, which comprise the Superintendents’ Association, the Hong Kong Police Inspectors’ Association, the Overseas Inspectors’ Association and the Junior Police Officers’ Association, said the authority had not informed them in any way during their investigation of the suspect that he was a carrier of a highly fatal virus.
“The HA’s responsibility is undeniable in case anyone is infected with the highly fatal virus as a result of its negligence. The public at large will also consider it unacceptable.” the letter stated.