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Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2021-05-05 17:52
Last update date: 2021-05-05 17:52
The Hospital Authority requires that from next Monday (10th) onwards, about 65,000 employees who need to be in contact with patients must undergo rapid self-new crown pneumonia tests every seven days. Those who have completed two doses of the new crown vaccine and 14 days apart will be exempted.
There are representatives of doctors who are dissatisfied with the arrangement. They are understandable to speak on behalf of the industry. However, the epidemic situation is changeable, and the encryption of medical inspections is to stop the epidemic in hospitals in a timely manner. Medical care should not resist.
It is not new for the Hospital Authority to require healthcare professionals to conduct an antigen test.
As early as the beginning of January this year, the bureau requested about 5,000 employees who are caring for patients with frail or terminal illnesses to take regular tests. By mid-March, it will be encrypted to once a week, and the target will be expanded to 65,000 by next Monday. Employees, but those who have completed the entire vaccination process can choose not to do the test.
Ma Zhongyi, the president of the Hong Kong Public Medical Doctors Association, who opposed the measures, listed several reasons: 1. The protective measures for medical care in the past have been perfected, questioning the misallocation of resources; 2. The arrangement for exemption of vaccination is unscientific; 3. The two sides did not communicate on this.
She is particularly dissatisfied with the society's constant demand for vaccinations for medical care, which is moral kidnapping.
Ma Zhongyi believes that when medical staff see the potential side effects of vaccines, they will also have their own doubts. Therefore, the status of medical nurses does not mean that they must be vaccinated. He believes that society should not "ethically kidnap" medical nurses, and medical staff have no responsibility to promote the government.
(Photo by Luo Junhao)
Encryption detection is necessary
However, doctors and nurses have to contact patients and colleagues every day, even if adequate protection measures are taken, the role of testing cannot be underestimated.
It is true that the accuracy of antigen testing is lower than that of swab testing and other methods, but the testing process is convenient. I believe that the HA will purchase quality products for its employees.
Recently, a hospital group infection involving a variant strain of the virus broke out in Singapore. Doctors, nurses and cleaners have been infected successively. The local government is busy preventing the spread of the epidemic.
We can learn from the past, and local public hospital employees should also take precautions against unburned in encrypted detection.
As for the lack of communication, if both parties have discussed and discussed in advance, the disputes may of course be smaller.
But this in itself is not a sufficient reason to oppose the strengthening of medical care testing.
Flexible arrangements without compulsion
The moral kidnapping theory is even more alarmist.
The Hospital Authority and even the society have not yet forced medical care to vaccinate. Whether medical care or ordinary citizens, if they are concerned about their own health, the government also recommends that they check with their doctors first, and those who are at high risk do not have to take risks.
However, it makes sense to provide more convenient measures for people who have been vaccinated, and this is true at home and abroad.
For example, the government is also studying to reduce the isolation period for people who have been vaccinated.
Of course, Ma Zhongyi believes that vaccination should not replace constant antigen testing, which is not unreasonable.
In Singapore’s hospital cluster cases, the infected doctors and citizens have already been vaccinated, which proves that the vaccine cannot guarantee zero infection.
Therefore, the HA should consider requiring employees who have received injections to continue testing to avoid leaking confirmed cases.
In early February, the medical staff went on strike, and a large number of medical staff went to the Hospital Authority building to protest, demanding "closing customs to save Hong Kong."
(Data Picture/Photo by Gao Zhongming)
Looking back on recent years, the frontline medical staff and the Hospital Authority have been at war on various issues. The former strived for salary increases, additional manpower, and reduced workload, and even required customs clearance and anti-epidemic equipment at the beginning of the anti-epidemic period. Until now, they are dissatisfied with over-testing and being subjected to Vaccines are required, everything is available.
Controversy is inevitable, but patients and public health must be the major prerequisites, and the public interest must be used to judge who is right and who is wrong.
The bureau made mistakes in planning in the early years, did not ask the government to stop cutting capital and services, and was lazy about the lack of management, which caused doctors to sacrifice care time to deal with clerical meetings. The medical and nurse protests were justified and well-founded.
However, medical and nursing care should also avoid going online and politicizing everything.
This time the bureau requested encrypted testing. The original intention was to detect infection cases as soon as possible to prevent outbreaks. The measures are actually welcome by the community.
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