XN000022-1996-05-22 — Page 54

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Security measures in public hospitals

Following is a question by the Hon David Li and a written reply by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

It was reported recently that the lax security arrangements in Queen Elizabeth Hospital had given rise to an incident in which a patient, who had been reported missing, was found three days later to be hiding on the roof of the Hospital. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Reply:

(a)

(b)

of the number of cases involving the disappearance of patients from public hospitals in the past three years; and

of the security measures currently adopted by public hospitals to prevent patients from running away and whether the public hospitals will step up these measures?

Given that the statistical data on disappearance of patients are captured and collated on a systematic basis by the Hospital Authority only since January 1996, the requested information is not available for 1994 and 1995. However, a total of 159 such cases were reported in the first quarter of 1996, a majority of which involved Vietnamese boat people, illegal immigrants or drug addicts.

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Patients wishing to leave the ward to which they have been assigned should first inform the hospital staff, who will monitor closely the number and location of individual patients. Furthermore, standard procedures are in place to contact the family and to initiate a search in cases where patients are found missing. Assistance form the Police will also be sought, if necessary.

Given the nature of hospital services, additional measures to prevent patients from running away must be balanced against their interest to enjoy freedom of movement and an open ward environment. A number of measures have been adopted in the last few years to strengthen the internal security of public hospitals. These include security access control system, electronic tagging system for babies, automatic door alarm and close circuit television. Apart from training programmes aimed to sharpen the security awareness among hospital staff, each hospital has also appointed an officer to co-ordinate security measures and to train up the responsible personnel.

End