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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MISS CECILIA YEUNG (in Cantonese):--Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):---This question concerns the recent outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease elsewhere and the possible preventive measures that may be taken in view of its possible involvement with ventilating systems.
Legionnaire's Disease is an acute respiratory infection caused by a newly recognized distinctive organism that was first isolated from cases of pneumonia among individuals attending an American Legion Convention in Philadelphia in 1976. Knowledge of the distribution of this organism in nature is incomplete.
Several outbreaks of this disease have been linked to contaminated condensates from air conditioning cooling towers.
The Council will certainly attempt to keep abreast with the public health implications of this disease and its prevention particularly in respect of its association with ventilating systems and although I have been given to understand that the Medical & Health Department has so far not been notified of this disease in Hong Kong, suitable arrangements will be made if necessary in preventing it from occurring and spreading to the extent of making use of ventilating systems.
MRS. ELLIOTT (in English):—I am grateful to Miss YEUNG for mentioning the point, the M.T.R.C. has made a regulation that they will not have hawkers near their entrances and that's theoretical. The point is there are hawkers near the entrances and you can hardly get in the station Kwun Tong, where I live, because of the hawkers. Until we find some place where those can operate instead of having regulations that they cannot operate, we are going to have problems. If it is a negative answer, then we are going to have problems, but if it is a positive answer, then we make some solutions. At the moment, it's negative from the M.T.R.C.
DR. RONALD LEUNG (in Cantonese):—I would like to ask the department what difficulties are they facing in the mobility of these G.D. teams? Sometimes, that team members are all crowded in one particular district, perhaps increase the mobility of these team members.
MRS. ELLIOTT (in English):—Mr. Chairman, they have not been organized in a way that is effective, and I do not want to go into detail about that, but that's the reason why the Deputy Director has set up his special party because he sees that it could be given better directions and be better organized and this is what is being done quite regardless of the Working Party's policy.
5. MRS. MARGARET LI asked the following question (in Cantonese):---In view of the recent outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease elsewhere and its connection with air-conditioning system, I would like to know if the Council would (1) deem it appropriate to keep abreast with findings in this aspect of public health and safety; (2) study what measures have been adopted (e.g. the U.K.) in respect of maintenance of air-conditioning system to prevent outbreak of the Disease; (3) if necessary, make suitable arrangements in regulation and control of ventilating system in Scheduled Premises.
MRS. MARGARET LI (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, Dr. HUANG as the chairman of the concerned committee, when do you think we can get the report from U.K.?
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, it is difficult for me to tell you when we can get this report and we cannot ask the authority that they must send us a report, say within a fortnight's time. But we have already notified the concerned authority that we are very concerned about that and we hope that we can obtain detailed information and only after obtaining information, will we consider what steps to be taken in future.
MR. LAWRENCE FUNG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I am grateful for Mrs. Li for asking the question and Dr. HUANG for answering the question, but I am a little disturbed with the attitude of the Civil Services in approaching this problem. As most people know Legionnaire's Disease is bred and promulgated by air-conditioning systems, and once it happens it is not going to be one or two persons that are going to contact this disease, it is going to be of catastrophic proportion and the mortality rate or the fatality rate, once you have an outbreak is quite serious. So rather than take the attitude that there is no need to do too much about it now, but merely to be kept informed, would it really be much better to take preventive measure now, to ask people with enclosed air-conditioning system to do the necessary to prevent an outbreak, in other words, prevention is much better than the cure after the outbreak.
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