Letters | Hong Kong hospitals body must admit blind spot in measles response

Pregnant women are among the most vulnerable in the measles outbreak, and the Hospital Authority’s measures to protect them have been disappointing

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More than 60 cases have been reported in Hong Kong amid a measles outbreak, a pregnant woman among them. Local doctors have warned that a pregnant woman with measles has a higher chance of miscarriage or premature delivery. Measles in the final stage of pregnancy could lead to the baby becoming infected at birth, and serious conditions such as encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 11:00am, 19 Apr 2019Updated: 11:00am, 19 Apr 2019

I am writing to congratulate the Hospital Authority on its letter regarding measles control (“Measles control requires following best-practice rules”, April 16). I believe that it is trying its best amid the measles surge in the city. But this does not negate the fact that the authority let my wife, and indeed all pregnant staff in their final weeks of pregnancy, fall through the cracks in this particular issue. I hope the Hospital Authority has the courage to admit this blind spot and prioritise with more common sense.

The consequence of measles infection in the final weeks of pregnancy can be deadly for both mother and child. Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee has urged mothers-to-be to do the antibody test after one pregnant woman was found to be infected. The two Hospital Authority staff who have contracted measles were a nurse and a radiographer who were not working in so called “high-risk stations” either.

In spite of its claims in the letter, the Hospital Authority has not provided my wife with “the necessary support”. I arranged her measles antibody test in the private sector myself.

The highest risk group is actually the non-immune in the final weeks of pregnancy

The authority has no concrete policy on how to respond to a non-immune antibody test result either, except a blanket statement “requesting all hospitals not to deploy pregnant staff to high-risk stations”.

The highest risk group is actually the non-immune in the final weeks of pregnancy and the Hospital Authority letter suggests it remains oblivious to this risk.

The only “officer for the Kowloon central cluster” who has approached my wife is actually from the human resources department – offering her different types of leave to consider taking, for example annual leave, sick leave or advancing maternity leave.