An Indonesian Migrant Worker (PMI) who is a leukemia patient at Eastern Hospital and is known to be 44 years old has tested positive for the corona virus after his test results came out on Saturday (21/8). Health authorities find out how the close contacts of the Covid-19 patient who spent almost a month in the hospital were not separated from other patients, because the PMI should have been placed in quarantine since July 27 after the employer’s family tested positive for Covid-19, Monday. (24/8/2020).
According to data from the Center for Health Protection (CHP) when the PMI was treated, he underwent a corona virus test which showed negative results, but a day later the health authorities discovered the fact that the PMI had close contact with his employer who was confirmed to be a Covid-19 patient last month. .
Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, a CHP spokesman, said the employer’s family did not inform authorities that the worker had been admitted to the Eastern Hospital, and officials admitted they had mistakenly thought the PMI was living with other family members when they were ordered to undergo quarantine.
“We thought the PMI was at home with his employer. So far, the official on duty has never spoken directly to the PMI, because he doesn’t speak English or Mandarin very well, so we only rely on his employer’s family members for information,” Chuang explained.
Chuang said the authorities had issued a quarantine order for the PMI, but because he was already hospitalized at that time, the health authorities said the quarantine order would be handled by another team. However, his party acknowledged that there may have been an error in instructions so that the PMI missed the quarantine period.
“I have to apologize for what happened. We are still figuring out where the error started, because we didn’t inform the Hospital Authority [about] the case. And officials are looking for solutions to improve the system, to make it easier to track cases,” Chuang explained.
Reporting from RTHK, this is not the first time that language problems have caused confusion for CHP, previously the government official reported a mistake about dozens of migrant domestic workers, who were exposed to the corona virus had left the boarding house because they had entered their respective employers’ homes, but in fact the migrant workers were still living. in the hostel and haven’t moved anywhere. The CHP has admitted their mistake due to communication difficulties due to language barriers.
Meanwhile, a chief manager of the Hospital Authority, Dr Lau Ka-hin said that the PMI who was a leukemia patient had had intermittent fevers since he was admitted, but this was consistent with his leukemia relationship and low white blood cell count. . Lau also added that the PMI had tested negative for Covid-19 on his first day of hospital admission.
“I think the doctors [treating] the patients according to the symptoms and also the clinical laboratory results, because the patient has leukemia and also low white blood cells, so it is very difficult to detect other causes of the fever that the patient is experiencing,” Lau said.
Currently, more than fifty people who have come into contact with the PMI during his stay in two wards at the Eastern Hospital will be isolated, although so far no one has tested positive for Covid-19.
