The city’s paediatric centres will treat at most 120 non-local children a month
ELIZABETH.CHEUNG@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Friday, 01 April, 2016, 1:01pm
Hong Kong has taken the measures because of the mainland vaccine scandal. Photo: Sam Tsang
Almost half of Hong Kong’s public children’s clinics have already filled their April service quotas for non-locals, as health bosses roll out a measure to protect local children from mainland vaccine fears.
From Friday the city’s 31 maternal and child health centres will treat at most 120 non-local children a month between them, including mainlanders. Each centre will only handle two to seven new cases each month, depending on service capacity.
The measure came after the scandal of illegal and improperly handled vaccines broke out on the mainland last month. Public clinics reported a rapid jump in phone enquiries on vaccination from about 80 to 120 in less than a week.
The Department of Health announced on Thursday that the quota for April had already been filled at 15 clinics, as parents were allowed to make appointments before the implementation of the quota system.
Non-local quotas in all five clinics in New Territories East were full, while those in New Territories West had the most left. As of noon on Thursday, there were still 35 places left for the month.
A spokesman for the department said: “Services for eligible persons including Hong Kong residents are not affected. They may make appointments with their preferred centre either in person or by calling the centre concerned.”
A hotline for non-local bookings opened on Friday, running from 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm on weekdays.
“The hotline is aimed at lightening the burden of the centres’ services through better use of manpower resources,” the spokesman added.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1932829/half-hong-kong-childrens-clinics-fill-quotas-non
