Health 173
products. To cope with increasing demand for food safety testing, part of the food testing operation was moved into the Food Safety Laboratory at Pok Fu Lam in early 2008.
The laboratory also started outsourcing some of its routine testing work to commercial laboratories to better utilise its existing resources to carry out new food tests resulting from its broadened surveillance operation, and to respond swiftly to urgent food safety problems.
The laboratory continues to provide a service for analysing the quality of western and Chinese medicines that are indispensable to health care. In 2008, a total of 45 446 tests were carried out on western pharmaceutical products for compliance with international or other acceptable quality and safety standards. At the same time, 70 260 tests were conducted on Chinese herbal medicines to see if they contain harmful substances, or pesticide residues. Tests were also carried out on proprietary Chinese medicines to ensure they are not adulterated with western drugs, controlled substances, and other harmful ingredients.
The laboratory also provided full support for investigations into incidents of people falling ill from taking Chinese medicine containing wrong, or contaminated herbs. The laboratory participated in drawing up regulatory standards for Chinese medicinal herbs sold in Hong Kong.
The laboratory continued its year-round surveillance of tar and nicotine yields in cigarettes. Some 13 560 examinations were conducted during the year to check on the data declared by tobacco traders. The results were released to the public.
Public Health Laboratory Services
The Public Health Laboratory Centre and the Clinical Pathology Laboratory Centre of the Department of Health provide clinical diagnostic and public health laboratory services to the public and private health sectors for patient care and for other public health uses. The centres also process clinical and surveillance specimens to see if they contain infectious substances. The centres conducted more than two million such tests in 2008.
The Public Health Laboratory Centre has been designated by the World Health Organisation as the National Influenza Centre, the National Poliovirus Laboratory, the National Measles Laboratory, Regional Measles Reference Laboratory, Avian (H5) Influenza Reference Laboratory, SARS Reference Laboratory and a Supranational TB Reference Laboratory.
Hospital Laboratory Services
Hospital laboratories located in regional hospitals under the Hospital Authority provide a wide range of laboratory services in anatomical pathology, chemical pathology, haematology, blood bank, microbiology, immunology and tissue typing to ensure that all public hospitals, including those without onsite laboratories, have access to comprehensive laboratory services. These laboratories are supported by advanced information technology systems and automated devices to achieve operational efficiency. They are also accredited by a number of local
and
Page 225Page 226
174 Health
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.