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Hong Kong has dealt with two major outbreaks of an emerging respiratory disease over the past dozen or so years.
In 1997, Hong Kong saw 18 residents contract the H5N1 bird flu virus (with six fatalities), and in 2003 more than 1750 cases of SARS (with 299 deaths) occurred.
So it isn't difficult to understand why they take surveillance, containment, drilling, and preparation very seriously.
Today, Hong Kong held a mock pandemic drill dubbed Exercise Redwood.
The details are included in this press release from www.info.gov.hk. A Hat tip to Ironorehopper on Flutrackers for posting this link.
Exercise Redwood to test government response to human avian flu cases (with photos)
************************************************************The arrangements for setting up designated clinics (DC) in the event of occurrences of human cases of avian influenza were tested today (January 10) during an exercise organised by the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health.
Code-named Redwood, the exercise was to examine, evaluate and refine contingency plans related to the activation and running of a designated clinic.
The areas tested included the management of patients with fever or symptoms of influenza-like illness (ILI), the triage and provision of immediate medical treatment to patients, as well as response actions of different public service units in the building where the designated clinic was located.
More than 200 participants from six organisations took part in the exercise. Thirteen experts from the Mainland and Macau attended as observers.
The exercise scenario unfolded when a staff member of the Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department, who took part in a territory-wide poultry culling operation, and a boy, who had close contact with a dead bird in a park on Hong Kong Island, developed ILI symptoms and were admitted to hospitals. They were later confirmed to have been infected with avian influenza H5N1.
Following the detection of human avian flu cases, the consultation rate for ILI at the Accident and Emergency Department of public hospitals on Hong Kong Island surged rapidly. The Hospital Authority decided to activate four designated clinics on Hong Kong Island to share the clinical workload and triaging patients with ILI.
Two patients with severe ILI symptoms were transferred to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital for further management. Those with mild symptoms received medical treatment in the designated clinic.
In response to the activation of the designated clinic, the Elderly Health Centre, Chest Clinic and the Hong Kong AIDS Foundation located in the same building adopted necessary arrangements.
The Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, accompanied by the Director of Health, Dr PY Lam, visited the designated clinic to observe frontline operations.
Dr Chow stressed the importance of putting in place the contingency plan to activate designated clinics during major infectious disease outbreaks, especially those involving a lot of patients who needed to be assessed and triaged at primary care level to reduce the workload of hospitals.
"There should be well planned procedures for the activation and running of designated clinics which include strict infection control measure, efficient triage system, and effective communication and collaboration amongst different units," he said.
He expressed gratitude to the participants for their efforts that contributed to the smooth running of the exercise.
Dr Lam said that CHP had been conducting regular exercises to test the preparedness of government departments and relevant organisations to combat major infectious disease outbreaks and public health emergencies.
"Today's exercise provided a valuable opportunity for the Department of Health and other concerned organisations to put to the test relevant contingency plans and identify early, areas for improvement in the system," he said.
Government departments and non-government organisations taking part in Exercise Redwood were Food and Health Bureau, Department of Health, Hospital Authority, Hong Kong AIDS Foundation, Auxiliary Medical Service, and Fire Services Department.Ends/Saturday, January 10, 2009
Issued at HKT 18:05
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