Hong Kong lawmakers query need to spend HK$200 million on border health checks
But Director of Health Dr Ronald Lam defends annual expenditure as necessary for early warning system and to ‘safeguard the southern gateway of China’
Health screenings at Hong Kong’s border control points must be maintained to identify early threats of infectious diseases, authorities have said, after lawmakers questioned the need to spend more than HK$200 million (US$25.77 million) on such measures annually when the Covid-19 pandemic was over.
Director of Health Dr Ronald Lam Man-kin insisted on Friday that the screenings, which included monitoring the body temperature of arrivals, at the city’s 13 border control points was necessary.
“To prevent the import of infectious diseases to Hong Kong, health screenings at the airport and other border control points are very important to help identify the risks,” Lam told a Legislative Council meeting. “Hong Kong must safeguard the southern gateway of China.”
Even a single patient could become a disease superspreader, he cautioned.
Lawmakers questioned whether the HK$205 million spent on health screenings in the past financial year was excessive. Last year, 4,214 travellers with a fever were identified by the system, while another six who fulfilled the reporting criteria of a major infectious disease were referred to public hospitals for further check-ups.
“As the global epidemic situation has become stable and our resources are rather tight, would authorities consider cancelling or scaling down the screening work, and use the resources on areas that are in greater need?” Chan Pui-leung, from the Election Committee constituency, said.
