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PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
283
It all started when the avian flu incident occurred. In fact we could see the beginning of things as far back as April 1997. At that time, 5,000 chickens at Lau Fau Shan were found infected with avian flu.
In May, one child was confirmed to have been infected with H5N1 avian flu.
At the end of August of the same year, when fellow Members of the Democratic Party had a meeting with officers of the Department of Health and the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, the officers pointed out the above as individual cases and called on us not to worry. At the end of November, the second case of H5N1 infection was confirmed. The Department of Health still said there was no indication of human to human infection.
When the second patient infected with avian flu died in December, Government appointed the Deputy Director of Health and some second and third line officers to form an inter-departmental committee to handle the case. One could see that Government was not attaching importance to the issue.
After that, several more of our citizens were infected with avian flu. We heard the Director of Health speaking on television to assure citizens there was no harm in eating chicken and claiming that she herself ate chicken often. Was she throwing out assurance or ‘cyanide’?
By 27th December when a large number of chickens infected with avian flu died instantly at Cheung Sha Wan Poultry Wholesale Market, Government finally decided late at night to kill 1 million chickens in a day.
Other government departments were unable to match such a rash turn of action. However, nothing happened overnight, there was an indication back in April 1997. We can see that Government was unable to take matters in hand with foresight. It was a big mistake.
Later on, Mr. Francis TANG will speak in details on the responsibility of Government in the course of chicken killing and other hygiene incidents.
Mr. Chairman, I want to specifically point out that using chickens to scrap the Municipal Councils only leads to administrative dictatorship, and administrative dictatorship is a terrible thing itself. When Government tries again and again to wrap administrative dictatorship with beautiful words and mislead the public, the attitude behind it is even more frightening. When the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs spoke at the Legislative Council last week, he cited the examples of countries and cities in the West and their attempts to streamline structure and reform district administration. He cited the examples to say that the reform presently engineered for Hong Kong would be similar to reform undertaken by those international cities. The idea, according to him, was to enhance efficiency, ensure cost effectiveness and improve service qualities. He was not painting the full picture of things.
Page 289 of 606
Page 289 of 606
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Page 289 of 606
•
PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
283
It all started when the avian flu incident occurred. In fact we could see the beginning of things as far back as April 1997. At that time, 5 000 chickens at Lau Fau Shan were found infected with avian flu.
In May, one child was confirmed to have been infected with H5N1 avian flu.
At the end of August of the same year, when fellow Members of the Democratic Party had a meeting with officers of the Department of Health and the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, the officers pointed out the above as individual cases and called on us not to worry, At the end of November, the second case of H5N] infection was confirmed. The Department of Health still said there was no indication of human to human infection.
When the second patient infected with avian flu died in December, Government appointed the Deputy Director of Health and some second and third line officers to form an inter-departmental committee to handle the case. One could see that Government was not attaching importance to the issue.
After that, several more of our citizens were infected with avian flu. We heard the Director of Health speaking on television to assure citizens there was no harm in eating chicken and claiming that she herself ate chicken often. Was she throwing out assurance or ‘cyanide"?
By 27th December when a large number of chickens infected with avian flu died instanly at Cheung Sha Wan Poultry Wholesale Market, Government finally decided late at night to kill I million chickens in a day.
Other government departments were unable to match such a rash turn of action. However, nothing happened overnight, there was an indication back in April 1997. We can see that Government was unable to take matters in hand with foresight. It was a big mistake.
Later on, Mr. Francis TANG will speak in details on the responsibility of Government in the course of chicken killing and other hygiene incidents.
Mr. Chairman, I want to specifically point out that using chickens to scrap the Municipal Councils only leads to administrative dictatorship, and administrative dictatorship is a terrible thing itself. When Government tries again and again to wrap administrative dictatorship with beautiful words and mislead the public, the attitude behind it is even more frightening. When the Secretary for Constitution Affairs spoke at the Legislative Council last week, he cited the examples of countries and cities in the West and their attempts to streamline structure and reform district administration. He cited the examples to say that the reform presently engineered for Hong Kong would be similar to reform undertaken by those international cities. The idea, according to him, was to enhance efficiency, ensure cost effectiveness and improve service qualities. He was not painting the full picture of things.
Page 289 of 606
Page 289 of 606
Page 289 of 60
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