Hong Kong lawmakers slam slow progress of setting up at-risk carer database
Existing practice described as ‘finding a needle in a haystack’ as care teams ill-equipped to identify high-risk households in a targeted manner
Hong Kong lawmakers have slammed the government for its slow progress in establishing a database of carers for the elderly and disabled despite pleas for patience to address existing privacy concerns.
The idea of setting up a database was introduced in last year’s policy address following a string of family tragedies involving carers, but there is no concrete timeline.
Meanwhile, government-funded community care teams were asked to go door to door to help identify vulnerable families and refer them to welfare service units, with the initiative to be expanded to all districts from next month.
At a Legislative Council panel meeting on Monday, lawmakers voiced concerns over the inefficiency of the approach, urging the government to expedite the development of a database for high-risk families to enable care teams to identify households in a more targeted manner.
Lawmaker Bill Tang Ka-piu, of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, described the existing practice as “finding a needle in a haystack”.
He recounted his experience last year, where efforts to identify those in need through door-to-door visits across seven residential buildings in Kwun Tong yielded only a 38 per cent response rate.
