Front-line hospital staff can rest easier

A four-star hotel in San Po Kong is offering free stays for front-line medical professionals fighting the pandemic in public hospitals.

The Pentahotel Hong Kong, Kowloon, is the first hotel in the SAR to salute medical workers by offering free accommodation.

That follows restaurants and retailers offering free meals and discounts for them. And other hotels have special deals.

The 695-room Pentahotel, under New World Development, can accommodate 300 professionals, including doctors, nurses and other health-care workers at one time. They will stay on a separate floor from other guests, who have been told of the gesture.

"During the pandemic we have witnessed how medical professionals have been working under tremendous pressure and life-risk threats," said NWD executive director and Rosewood Hotel Group boss Sonia Cheng Chi-man. "They have stayed on the front line constantly and tirelessly."

NWD executive vice-chairman and general manager Adrian Cheng Chi-kong said the aim was to provide medical staff with much-needed care and support.

Medical staff "are the unsung heroes of Hong Kong," he said. "We hope the free accommodation will ensure medical staff peace of mind on their rest days."

Noting the offer, Hospital Authority chief executive Tony Ko Pat-sing said staff handling Covid-19 cases can also draw a special allowance of HK$500 daily.

That is aimed at helping them arrange accommodation away from their homes.

In February, it also arranged for four hotels to provide 100 rooms for front-line workers. It also established 300 temporary dormitory rooms at hospitals.

But Queen Mary Hospital said it has stopped sending staff to designated hotels as the subsidy expanded their choices.

Stan Group had also arranged a hotel in Causeway Bay to accommodate Queen Mary's workers but a fee was charged.

In the United States, Hilton and American Express offered free hotel rooms to front-line medical workers from April 13 to May 31. They partnered with 10 associations representing over a million workers.

Earlier, New World set up production lines for "made in Hong Kong" masks.

It is now set to distribute 10 million free masks from the end of this month.

It has partnered with eight non-governmental organizations to install "Mask To Go" dispensers at NGO centers.

There will also be smart redemption cards for low-income families and disadvantaged groups to obtain packs of five NWD masks from the dispensers every week until early July.

The initiative should benefit more than 40,000 people.