More than 9,000 healthcare workers are set to take part in the second day of a five-day strike in a bid to pressure the government to fully close the borders with the mainland to stem the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.
Live feeds from several local news outlets this morning showed hundreds of people gathered in the Hospital Authority headquarters’ lobby, with some even lining up outside the building, as the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance made good on their promise to step up their strike action unless a complete border shutdown is ordered.
Hospital workers were also joined by unions representing various sectors from educators to mixologists.
Very big crowd outside the Hospital Authority building this AM as strike actions escalate. Tough to capture the entire group, which snakes down the road. pic.twitter.com/RO93qNH5Cc
— Timothy McLaughlin (@TMclaughlin3) February 4, 2020
Around 2,700 medical staff kicked off the strike yesterday, forcing a number of scheduled surgeries — including operations for cancer patients, and angioplasties — to be postponed as a result, RTHK reports.
Hours after the authorities announced that all but three border control points will be shut, protesters and Hospital Authority management — including HA Chief Executive Tony Ko — held an open dialogue session, which broke down when HA officials rejected demands that they issue a public statement urging the government to shut down the remaining ports of entry.
When asked about potential reprisals against striking hospital workers, Ko simply said the authority will comply with guidelines in matters of staff discipline.
At that point, HAEA chair Winnie Yu announced that the strike would proceed into its second day as planned.
#BREAKING: The Hospital Authority Employees Alliance moved on to 2nd stage of strike after the mtg exposed divergent views w the #HospitalAuthority. “The negotiations were broken off,” said Winnie Yu, the chairlady of the Alliance. #WuhanCoronavirusOutbreak pic.twitter.com/fOsahqWGJv
— Jasmine Leung (@leungjasminee) February 3, 2020
Speaking to reporters at her weekly press conference this morning, Chief Executive Carrie Lam dismissed criticism that her announcement of further border control point closures was “too little, too late.”
“The situation of the coronavirus infection is evolving, so our public health strategy is to ensure that we could speedily respond to the changing situation, and implement as quickly as possible the necessary response measures,” she said.
“So I certainly would not agree with the allegation that we are not addressing this public health concern adequately, and certainly I don’t agree with the allegation that we are putting politics above public health.”
When asked to comment on the HAEA strike, she again appealed to striking workers to “put the interests of the patients and entire public health system above all other things,” adding that there was a “high degree of consistency” with what HAEA were asking and what the government was doing, and that the government’s measures have focused on reducing cross-border travel.
“The consequences yesterday were quite serious; important services, critical operations have been affected, whether it’s in neo-natal ICUs, isolation wards, or patients awaiting certain cancer treatments, all these have been affected.”
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