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Health
In 2012, a total of 186,319 tests were carried out on a wide range of foods to ensure they were fit for consumption and complied with the legal requirements. The laboratory also conducted 17,051 tests arising from investigations into food complaints. The laboratory outsources some routine testing work to commercial laboratories to optimise its resources for developing new food testing methods and conducting more analytical work resulting from the broadened scope of food surveillance operations.
The laboratory also provides services for analysing the quality and safety of western and Chinese medicine. In 2012, it carried out 56,036 tests on western pharmaceutical products and 77,784 on Chinese medicine to ensure they met recognised quality and safety standards, including tests on proprietary Chinese medicines to ensure they were not adulterated with western drugs, controlled substances, or harmful ingredients. The laboratory provided support for investigations into cases involving undeclared western drug ingredients and incidents of intoxication suspected to have been caused by misused or contaminated herbs in Chinese medicine. The laboratory assists the Department of Health in the development of Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards. It also conducts year-round surveillance of tar and nicotine yields in cigarettes, carrying out 13,536 checks on data declared by tobacco traders, and regularly releases the results to the public.
Public Health Laboratory Services
The DH's Public Health Laboratory Services Branch conducts laboratory tests for clinical and surveillance specimens and provides clinical diagnostic and public health laboratory services to the public and private health sectors for patient care and for other public health purposes. The branch conducted more than five million such tests in 2012.
The branch's Public Health Laboratory Centre has been designated by the WHO as the National Influenza Centre, the National Poliovirus Laboratory, the National Measles Laboratory, a Supranational TB Reference Laboratory, a Regional Reference Laboratory for measles, and designated as one of the Influenza A(H5) Reference Laboratories and one of the SARS Reference Laboratories worldwide.
Hospital Laboratory Services
Hospital laboratories located in the HA's regional hospitals 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 on- site 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 international accreditation bodies and carried out more than 240 million tests in 2012.
Auxiliary Medical Service
The Auxiliary Medical Service (AMS) provides its government-financed services through 4,602 volunteers and 700 cadets. Volunteers come from all walks of life and include doctors, nurses, pharmacists and paramedical personnel. All AMS members are qualified Disaster Medical Assistants. The main role of the AMS (which is a government department under the Security
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