Condemnation mounts after medical strike

A strike by some medical employees to force a complete shutdown of the Hong Kong border drew concerns and criticism from different sectors on Monday, as the move was condemned as an act that puts patients at risk and runs contrary to professional ethics.

The strike came as the city took further precautions against the novel coronavirus that has infected 15 in Hong Kong and over 17,000 on the Chinese mainland. More than 2,400 doctors and nurses in Hong Kong joined the strike.

Albert Lie Kwok-wai from the Queen Mary Hospital Department of Medicine said that staging a strike at this critical juncture is turning a blind eye to the interests of public health, colleagues, and even society as a whole.

In an open letter to all medical workers in the city, Lie also criticized the strike as a move that sacrifices doctors' professional ethics to politics.

He appealed to all medical employees to stay on duty and not to take the wrong side of history.

Kwok Po-yin, president of the Association of Private Medical Specialists of Hong Kong, lashed out at the striking medical personnel as "irresponsible", noting they were hijacking Hong Kong people's health and lives by staging the strike.

He acknowledged that immense pressure was faced by the city's medical practitioners, but measures to ease the burden could be achieved via dialogue, not a strike. He also cautioned that if the strike were to continue, it would create a public scare.

Kwok's association on Sunday called on its members to help public hospitals' specialist outpatient clinics. So far, about 300 members, including 170 private doctors, have registered.

Hospital Authority Chief Executive Tony Ko Pat-sing said at a news briefing that the impact of the strike was huge and worrying as nearly half of scheduled surgeries had to be postponed. He warned of a worsening situation, such as failing to sustain public hospital services, if the strike were to continue.

Ko called on medical workers to seek consensus through discussions, and reiterated that the strike would not be in the interest of patients and would affect public hospital services.

Stanley Ng Chau-pei, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, expressed concerns about the strike, saying the vulnerable patients in the city would be among the hardest-hit.

He said medical workers should voice their demands via professional working mechanism rather than staging a strike, which he decried as "a political hijack".