Doctor breaks down in tears as emergency room overwhelmed with patients

A consultant doctor broke down in tears during a Queen Elizabeth Hospital staff meeting, as medics were crushed by overwhelming workload and heartbreaking scenes of patients stuck at the emergency rooms in endless wait. 

The government announced on Tuesday that Queen Elizabeth Hospital has become a designed hospital for Covid-19 patients. Ho Hiu-fai, a consultant doctor of the hospital's accident and emergency department, was briefing medics on detailed arrangements in a staff meeting held on Wednesday night. 

Ho, who has worked in the hospital for 35 years, quoted figures from the Fire Service Department saying 80 percent of patients who arrived in the ambulance were related to Covid-19. Some 65 percent of them needed hospitalization. 

He sobbed as he said some patients failed to be admitted into wards and were stuck in the emergency room. Medics have been going through a challenging time over the past month, he continued. 

Ho was unable to speak further as he broke down in tears, as captured in a video. 

Sitting next to Ho, hospital chief executive Eric Cheung Fuk-chi patted Ho's shoulders and tried to comfort him. Others also gave Ho tissues to wipe his tears. 

Ho was once the director of the hospital's AED, and he would start work around 7am every day at the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak to treat patients awaiting admission. 

Some staffers also spoke of the incident in private and described the emergency room as being like hell, where patients have to sleep on the floor, and there is not enough medicine and supplies like saline water and oxygen. 

There is also not enough manpower to take care of elderly people's needs, such as taking them to the toilet and feeding them.