'Hospital mask supply may not last a month'

Doctor Arisina Ma says the number of masks hospital workers are going through each day has been based on the usage rate during a swine flu outbreak 11 years ago. Photo: RTHK

Dr Arisina Ma speaks to RTHK's Richard Pyne

The president of the Hong Kong Public Doctors' Association, Arisina Ma, warned on Tuesday that the city's hospitals may not have enough surgical masks to last them even a month.



Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Saturday that the government had a month's supply of masks left in stock, as she warned that millions more that have been purchased might not arrive in time due to a global shortage.



But Ma told RTHK that the situation could be even worse, because an estimate on how many masks hospital workers are going through each day has been based on the usage rate during a swine flu outbreak in 2009.



Ma said clinical staff are required to change their masks once every three to four hours, and noted that the number of patients in hospitals who need to be given masks also affects the supplies.



She added that the current situation is very different from 11 years ago.



At the end of January, the government appeared to be confident that the territory had a sufficient supply of masks, explaining how prisoners would be stepping up production of the protective gear.



But just days later the administration conceded there was a serious shortage.