The Hospital Authority on Monday called on medical staff to end their strike, after thousands of them threatened to join the industrial action on Tuesday as the second phase of protests against the government’s decision to keep some of the city’s checkpoints open.
The decision by a newly formed medical association to strike came a few hours after the government announced it will close all but three of the 14 control points to further downsize the inflows of visitors to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Hospital Authority Chief Executive Tony Ko Pat-sing expressed hope that the medical workers on strike will change their minds and return to work because Hong Kong is in a serious situation as it fights the coronavirus
In making the appeal to drop the strike after talks with hundreds of medical workers, Hospital Authority Chief Executive Tony Ko Pat-sing expressed hope that the medical workers on strike will change their minds and return to work because Hong Kong is in a serious situation as it fights the coronavirus.
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More than 2,700 medical workers went on strike on Monday, urging a full lockdown of the city’s boundaries and the entry of all non-residents who have visited the Chinese mainland. The first day of the strike left the city’s quarantine wards shorthanded.
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The medical association claimed that about 9,000 medical personnel will join the new phase of the strike on Tuesday.
Ko said the Hospital Authority would try to focus the scant manpower on dealing with emergencies and other essential services such as trauma care and cancer treatments if the strike were to continue. The authority will also try to arrange to have colleagues from different departments cover each other in a bid to minimize the impact on patient services.
