The Food & Health Bureau will liaise with the Hospital Authority to ensure there is sufficient hospital capacity during the peak flu season.
Secretary for Food & Health Dr Ko Wing-man made the comment today, expressing concern about the capacity of public hospital accident and emergency departments and intensive care units to handle admissions during the period.
Speaking to the media after a being on a radio programme, Dr Ko noted the projected figure of the first three weeks of this flu season is comparable to that in 2012, but there has been a drastic increase in the number of patients requiring intensive care in recent days.
He warned that if this trend continues, Hong Kong can expect a particularly high peak this flu season.
"We will be liaising with the Hospital Authority to make sure they have the measures in hand to address the situation."
Dr Ko said that although the protection rate of the vaccine being used this year is lower than that in past years, experts believe getting vaccinated is better than not.
Meanwhile, he said the Hospital Authority's medical incidents report serves as an alert to the authority and the hospitals concerned to review their procedures to minimise the risk to patients.
