The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for Caritas Medical Centre (CMC) announced a Sentinel Event today (October 20) as below:

     A 61-year-old male patient was admitted to the isolation room in a medical ward of CMC on October 15 due to severe pneumonia. The patient had underlying chronic disease leading to poor lung function. He required oxygen therapy and inotropic support.

     In the afternoon of October 19, the attending doctor explained to the patient and his family on high risk of deterioration. The patient agreed for Do-Not-Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) when his condition continued to deteriorate and in the last stage. He was calm at that moment.

     At 6.03 pm on the same day, a nurse found the patient lying on the toilet floor inside the isolation room with the shower hose around his neck. He showed no signs of life. As it was not caused by his underlying disease, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) was performed immediately but in vain. The patient was certified death. The hospital reported the incident to the Police for investigation.

     The hospital was saddened by the incident and expressed deep condolences to the family of the patient. Necessary assistance would be provided as and when required.

     The hospital is very concerned about the incident which was categorized as a Sentinel Event. The incident has been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office. A root cause analysis panel will be set up to look into the incident. Recommendations will be proposed by this panel to prevent the future occurrence of similar incident. The report will be submitted to the Hospital Authority within eight weeks. The incident has also been reported to the Coroner.

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, on reprovisioning of welfare facilities as a result of Kwun Tong comprehensive development project after attending a radio programme this morning (October 20):

Reporter: Secretary, one English question. What sort of criteria will you be looking for in the relocation so that it would not cause any hassle to students who will be relocating to that area, no matter when it comes to facilities around the relocation and the transport connection?

Secretary for Labour and Welfare: No one currently enrolled in Shine Skills Centre (Kwun Tong) (of the Vocational Training Council) will be relocated. They will all graduate from Shine Skills Centre (Kwun Tong). The only cohort of trainees that may be affected will be those trainees entering training in 2020, two years later. But then, we hope that the new service provider (of the new integrated vocational training centre) will be in place by 2020, so they would be able to communicate with the potential students, the trainees and their parents when they are considering what kind of service their children would enter after their graduation from special schools. So that they can choose among all the different types of vocational, employment support or skills training programmes available in the community.

     We will be providing more information. In fact, we have already been doing it all the time because there are so many different types of services available for graduates of special schools. We have been providing this kind of information to them already. I expect the special schools' principals, teachers and social workers know how to support their students. In the future, I think the support will be even stronger.

Reporter: How about the location?

Secretary for Labour and Welfare: The location (of the new integrated vocational training centre) will be convenient and probably more convenient to most potential students. Thank you very much.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

     Police advise motorists that special traffic arrangements will be implemented in Sha Tin to facilitate the race meeting tomorrow (October 21).

     The arrangements will come into effect two hours before the start of the first race and will last until the crowds have dispersed after the race meeting.

     Appropriate traffic signs will be put up and police will be on hand to guide motorists.

     The Police also appeal to people going to Sha Tin Racecourse for the race meeting and to Happy Valley Racecourse for cross betting to make maximum use of public transport.

     Parking spaces at the two racecourses are available only to holders of appropriate permits issued by Hong Kong Jockey Club and any vehicles illegally parked will be towed away.
     

     The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is set to open to traffic on October 24.

     News.gov.hk spoke with Highways Department engineers to learn about the innovative designs and features of the project's Passenger Clearance Building, as well as the challenges the project team encountered when constructing the Hong Kong Link Road.

     The two stories appear on news.gov.hk today (October 20) in both text and video format.

     Fu Hong Society has been issued a Public Subscription Permit to hold a territory-wide flag sale from 7am to 12.30pm today (October 20), a spokesman for the Social Welfare Department (SWD) said. 
 
     For enquiries, please call the SWD's hotline at 2343 2255, or the Charitable Fund-raising Control Team at 2832 4311 during office hours. Information on the flag days of the month is available at the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_whatsnew/). Permits for flag days containing contact information of the flag-selling organisations and information on the approved flag-selling activities have also been uploaded to the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_pubsvc/page_controlofc/sub_recentlyap/). For enquiries about the detailed flag-selling arrangements, please contact the individual flag-selling organisations.
 
     Details of the charitable fund-raising activities covered by the Public Subscription Permit issued by the SWD have also been uploaded to the GovHK website (www.gov.hk/fundraising).
 
     In the case of suspected fraudulent flag day activities, people should not make any donation and should immediately report the matter to the Police, the spokesman added.