Makeshift hospital expands services before time's up
Officials are making the most of a makeshift hospital in Lok Ma Chau before it closes in less than three years, with the facility expanding its services to include endoscopy procedures, drug-resistant organism screening, and sleep studies.  The Central Government-Aided Emergency Hospital in the Lok Ma Chau Loop area – initially built to serve Covid patients – has already been providing CT and MRI scanning for half a year. Since then, waiting times have improved for such services at public hospitals, according to the Hospital Authority. A microbiology laboratory to screen multi-drug resistant organisms has also started operating at the hospital, and from October 31, endoscopy and sleep study services will be offered to public hospital patients.  Sin Ngai-chuen, clinical stream coordinator of the New Territories East Cluster, said that even though the hospital does not have a fixed team, there are ways to provide these services. "Despite [having] manpower constraints, we still manage to deploy staff who are willing to provide services here, with some subsidies and also extra honorariums. It's difficult, but still, it's our guiding principle to provide as many services as possible," he said, adding that even more services could be introduced in future.  With the hospital expected to suspend operations in 2026, Sin said healthcare staff are hoping to serve as many patients as possible in the limited time frame. He added that such experiences would be helpful for the future development of the public healthcare system.