Transcript of remarks by S for Health at media session
25.2.2023

Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, at a media session after attending a radio programme this morning (February 25): Reporter: Professor Lo, the number of people calling the quit smoking hotline has jumped recently. Are you surprised and is this satisfying? What have the authorities done to prevent a rebound of smoking rate after dropping the mask mandate? The last question is, for the surgical light incident, do you think the Hospital Authority has any responsibility? Secretary for Health: I am glad to see that, since the introduction of the rise of tobacco tax, we are seeing a rise in the number of calls to the hotline to quit smoking. This is a very encouraging result. We saw that previously with every increase in tobacco tax. The recent rise is as expected. It illustrates the role of the rise in tobacco tax in controlling smoking. We expect this to continue for a while. I agree that we have to continue the momentum. First of all, with the removal of the mask, we will anticipate that there may be a possibility of rising in smoking rate. Over the last three years, the mask has helped us not only in controlling COVID-19, but also in reducing the number of smokers. We will be introducing other measures. We are going to make a consultation to seek more measures to try to control smoking in the way of making smoking less attractive, less convenient by increasing the non-smoking areas, restricting the smoking areas, and also reducing the attractiveness of the packages for smokers. We will be using multiple measures, not just the rise of tobacco tax. Our ultimate objective in 2025 is to reduce the smoking rate to 7.8 per cent. This is our target, and of course eventually, a smoke-free Hong Kong. About the accident which occurred in the United Christian Hospital, I am totally shocked by what had happened. In my own experience as a surgeon for nearly 40 years, I have never seen this, and I can never imagine that such thing can happen. This is absolutely serious and unacceptable. We have to make sure that this will not happen again. Having said that, there is actually very rare reporting of this happening before in other countries. This rarely happens. I must emphasise that we have a very high standard for medical devices. The quality and safety of medical devices are of high importance when we are using these devices in the operating theatres in particular. This particular operating theatre light was actually manufactured in Sweden, and also actually maintained by the company. I think that this kind of accident is a serious alarm of the quality of either the material, design or manufacturing, and of course the maintenance procedures. I certainly have urged the Hospital Authority (HA) to look into this - to look into the contractor of why this happened. In particular, it is not just one operating theatre light at fault. With all the inspections, we have identified 23 (surgical lights) which have a similar potential problem which can happen again. With the inspection of other operating theatre lights, it does not seem to be issues with other manufacturers, so I think we have to really look into this, especially the maintenance by the original manufacturer. The quality is a serious problem. Everybody asks the question about the responsibility of the HA. Of course, this happened under the HA. The HA has the responsibility to investigate into why this happened and as I said, to urge the contractor to come up with a report and explain. If this manufacturer and the maintenance contractor cannot provide a satisfactory answer to all these and ensure that this will not happen, the HA will have to seriously consider whether to trust this manufacturer and the maintenance contractor anymore. There is no doubt that the HA has the ultimate responsibility to ensure a safe working environment for our staff. I understand that our staff, and perhaps some patients, are concerned about this. I am sure that the HA will fulfil its responsibility to ensure that we have a safe working environment for our staff and also for our patients. (Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)