Kai Tak launch brings numbers to elderly front

The Kai Tak Holding Centre at the cruise terminal came onstream yesterday, bringing 400 more beds to the Covid battle with mild Covid elderly patients in mind.

Another 800 beds will become operational in phases by the end of the month.

Geared toward freeing up beds at hospitals and to those with more acute symptoms, the center will also cater for recovering elderly patients, with all admissions assessed by the Hospital Authority.

Patients can expect complimentary basic meals and nursing support from a team of 150 health-care professionals drawn from Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong.

The Kai Tak facility is the fourth such center, with the Social Welfare Department having set up the others in sports centers since late February on Choi Wing Road in Kwun Tong, Harbour Road at Wan Chai and in Shek Kip Mei Park in Sham Shui Po, offering over 400 beds.

The launch of services at Kai Tak came as the person in charge of maintenance at isolation facilities from China State Construction International Holding, Chan Shu-wai, said 35 percent of the cases he has overseen are normal ones but the rest are abnormal, with some cases involving outright vandalism by people staying at the facilities.

He cited flooding at the Tsing Yi community isolation facility as one of the more worrisome incidents, caused as it was by sewer blockages arising from people flushing clumps of tissue paper and even plastic bottles.

He called on people staying in the facility to follow instructions posted in the facility.

One of the most nauseating incidents saw a 27-year old man arrested last week for smearing feces in his room during quarantine at Queen's Hill Estate - a public housing estate requisitioned for quarantine use since late February.

More worrying were the 16 people under isolation in Penny's Bay quarantine centre who left their rooms in protest over a lack of information last month, which sparked a police callout after staff failed to persuade them to return to their rooms.