Patients crowd A&E during Christmas with over four hours of waiting time

Multiple emergency units in hospitals are seeing waiting times between one and four hours on Monday during Christmas.

According to statistics published by the Hospital Authority, 18 public hospitals today have recorded one to four hours of waiting time, with Kwong Wah Hospital recording more than four hours.

A large number of patients were seen waiting in Kwong Wah Hospital by noon, with the announcement system stating that there was an ongoing medical emergency, and thus, the waiting hours increased.

A patient who had been waiting for over five hours stated that the lack of hospital staffing causes the issue and hopes the government arranges more workforce to handle the demand during the public holidays.

Some non-local patients said they came to the public hospitals because no private clinics were open during the holidays.