This photo dated March 2, 2022, shows the makeshift hospital in Tsing Yi, Hong Kong. (CALVIN NG/CHINA DAILY)

Newly-built makeshift hospitals in Hong Kong are essential to the city’s public health emergency response system and will help minimize local infections, severe cases and deaths in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, said a leading Chinese mainland disease control expert.

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The makeshift hospitals, which require fewer medical workers than the traditional ones, are operated through a largely streamlined process of diagnosis and treatment and at lower costs, Zhai Xiaohui, a member of the mainland’s team of medical experts helping the HKSAR to contain the pandemic, said in an interview in Shenzhen on Saturday.

The makeshift hospitals, which require fewer medical workers than the traditional ones, are operated through a largely streamlined process of diagnosis and treatment and at lower costs, said Zhai Xiaohui, a member of the mainland’s team of medical experts helping the HKSAR to contain the pandemic

By effectively isolating and treating patients with mild to moderate symptoms, makeshift hospitals can solve the problem of scarce medical resources in Hong Kong’s general hospitals and enable them to specifically treat those requiring intensive medical care, he said.

The limited medical resources can thus be used rationally, depending on how severe a patient’s condition is.

Zhai, who had helped build makeshift hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei province, in February 2020, recalled his experiences gained during the outbreak there, and explained the efficient operation of makeshift hospitals to help Hong Kong ride out the outbreak.

“Epidemiological evidence has shown there’s a high infection rate among family members in Hong Kong, and home quarantine has increased the psychological burden and pain of patients, who put their loved ones at risk of contracting the disease,” he said.

Transferring infected patients to designated general hospitals once their symptoms become severe also makes it hard for them to continue being isolated at home. Makeshift hospitals can greatly reduce delays in transferring them to hospital. 

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Zhai said makeshift hospitals can closely monitor the progress in a patient’s condition by measuring his or her respiration rate, body temperature, oxygen saturation and blood pressure. Besides, a rapid medical referral can be made by integrating the hospitals as part of the entire healthcare system.

“As a community for patients with mild symptoms, makeshift hospitals isolate those who’re infected from those who aren't. Patients could also support each other and participate in social activities in the community,” said Zhai. “Medical staff can offer emotional support in addition to basic medical care.”