Coronavirus: Hong Kong business leaders leverage personal networks to fill gap as city struggles to source protective gear

Some have fronted money for mask purchases, afraid other buyers would snap them up if they waited for approval

The Hospital Authority has received private donations through business connections in the Middle East, Thailand, Japan and elsewhere

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Boxes of masks donated by Investcorp, a management fund company headquartered in Bahrain, are stored at the Hospital Authority's warehouse after arriving in Hong Kong earlier this week. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:00am, 21 Feb 2020Updated: 9:21am, 21 Feb 2020

More than 50 Hong Kong business leaders have lent their weight to sourcing hundreds of thousands of pieces of protective gear amid the coronavirus outbreak in recent weeks, with some fronting the money out of their own pockets.

The private sector push has come as the Hospital Authority has struggled to replenish its war chest and the city government has seen its global procurement exercise run into multiple roadblocks due to export restrictions in many countries.

Among the business executives and professionals stepping up so far are former commerce ministers Fred Ma Si-hang and Greg So Kam-leung, founding president of the Hong Kong Professionals and Senior Executives Association Samuel Yung Wing-ki and former authority chairman Anthony Wu Ting-yuk.

China Resources Medical Holdings Group chairman Anthony Wu (second right) presents a donation of 15,000 masks to the HK Medical Association. Photo: SCMP

The authority, which manages the city’s public hospitals, previously said its stock of 18 million surgical masks, 2.2 million protective suits and 1.1 million N95 respirators was only enough for one month’s use.

And while the government has ordered 40 million masks from suppliers around the world, only three million have been shipped so far.