Meds delivered to patients stranded on mainland

A 50-year-old Hong Kong resident who lives in Guangdong province found herself facing a dilemma. She needed to come back to Hong Kong to refill her anti-depression medications in early February. But that would entail a 14-day mandatory quarantine, a measure introduced by the government to contain the novel coronavirus.

She had to abandon the plan as that would leave her children in Guangdong unattended.

In addition to the mandatory quarantine, in place since Feb 8, Hong Kong has suspended cross-boundary rail services, and shut down all but three of its 14 checkpoints.

What further stifled her and many other Hong Kong people's trips back to the city were traffic restrictions imposed in some mainland cities, including the shutdown of highways, to curb the spread of the coronavirus since late January.

All combined, it has made Hong Kong patients living on the mainland unable to attend their follow-up medical visits or refill their prescriptions.

Having the meds mailed to them was also infeasible, as mainland laws prohibit psychotropic medications from entering through the mail.

Pleas for help mounted quickly in the wake of Hong Kong's quarantine rules. The government moved to ensure chronically ill Hong Kong residents stranded on the mainland get life-saving medications under a free-delivery program scheduled to run until the end of this month.

Hong Kong people living in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, where around 90 percent of Hong Kong people on the mainland reside, can have their prescription drugs delivered to them, the government said on Feb 24.