CE visits Government Logistics Department and grass roots in Sham Shui Po
25.2.2020

The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, visited the Government Logistics Department (GLD)'s Government Logistics Centre in Chai Wan this afternoon (February 25), expressing her gratitude to personnel of the GLD for their hard work in procuring surgical masks and their participation in various aspects of anti-epidemic work. She also learned about the department's arrangement to distribute the donated surgical masks received by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government from various sectors to non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Mrs Lam then joined representatives of the Society for Community Organization (SoCO) to conduct visits to grass-roots elderly people and distribute surgical masks and daily necessities to them. Accompanied by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr James Lau; the Director of the Chief Executive's Office, Mr Chan Kwok-ki; and the Director of Government Logistics, Miss Mary Chow, Mrs Lam visited the Government Logistics Centre to learn more about different means adopted by the personnel of the GLD to procure personal protective equipment globally, in particular surgical masks. She said she understood that under the current situation of tight global supply of surgical masks, the GLD is facing tremendous difficulties in its procurement with various restrictions and the surgical masks ordered invariably not being delivered as scheduled. Noting that the Anti-epidemic Fund approved by the Legislative Council has already set aside $1 billion for global procurement, Mrs Lam expressed the hope that the GLD will make full use of the related resources to procure the relevant supplies swiftly in the competitive international market. After meeting the priority needs for surgical masks of the healthcare staff and government departments in their anti-epidemic work, these surgical masks can also be shared with the community, in particular staff members of the relevant sectors and the underprivileged. Given the persistent tight global supply of surgical masks, the Chief Executive decided earlier to pass all surgical masks donated by various sectors to the HKSAR Government to NGOs so that they can redistribute them to the underprivileged, primarily the elderly. During a briefing by colleagues of the GLD on the related work, Mrs Lam said she was pleased to note that they will pass the surgical masks to NGOs as soon as they receive them for distribution to the underprivileged. Noting that personnel of the GLD have taken up heavy logistical and transport work for anti-epidemic work, Mrs Lam thanked them for their tireless contributions and praised them as heroes behind the scenes in the Government's anti-epidemic work. Together with the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, Mrs Lam then joined a SoCO activity to distribute surgical masks to the elderly living in subdivided flats in Sham Shui Po. SoCO is one of the NGOs being allocated the surgical masks donated by private organisations to the Government. During her visit to residents, Mrs Lam said that the Government will spare no effort to increase housing supply to improve the living environment of the grass roots. She also briefed the elderly people on the support measures rolled out by the Government recently. "I thank various sectors for donating surgical masks to people in need amid the epidemic, expressing care for the community. I appeal to all members of the public to continue to be united, support the Government's work to tackle the disease, stay at home as much as possible to reduce social contact and fight the disease together," Mrs Lam said. Ends/Tuesday, February 25, 2020 Issued at HKT 23:10 NNNN