Strengthen safety measures for the Dead Removal Team of the FEHD under the outbreak of Convid-19

August 30th, 2020

5 dead removal team (DRT) members from the FEHD were sent to quarantine after handling remains of Covid-19 patients under unknown circumstances. DAB Legislative Councilors LEUNG Che Cheung and Holden CHOW as well as Chair of the DAB Tuen Mun Branch Terry YIP held a press conference on this issue.

LEUNG Che Cheung and Holden pointed out this incident exposed loopholes in the government’s internal communication mechanism. DRT members did not get prior notice and were not properly equipped for handling remains of the infected patients. Furthermore, the DRT has only 72 staff members and suffers from a lack of personnel. Terry YIP also mentioned the government insisted that the DRT is not a “high risk” endeavor and did not respond to his earlier request for dealing the problems the DRT faced.

We urge the government to address the shortage of staff, provide related training and subsidies to improve DRT’s benefits. On the other hand, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) has to improve the communication mechanism so that other bureaus can be informed of confirmed COVID cases in a timely manner. All other government departments must also receive sufficient training and support in regard to dealing with confirmed COVID cases.

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Media enquiries:

LEUNG Che Cheung, Legislative Councillor (9016 8088)

Holden CHOW, Legislative Councillor (3703 9870)

Terry YIP , Chair of the DAB Tuen Mun Branch (5118 2009)