Kwai Chung Hospital announces event of bed bugs found
The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The spokesperson for Kwai Chung Hospital (KCH) made the following announcement today (September 17) regarding an event of bedbugs found in the hospital:
KCH received a report of itching skin from a male patient in a post admission care unit yesterday morning (September 16). Staff immediately conducted a physical examination of the patient, suspecting that the patient was bitten by bedbugs. Upon inspection, bedbugs were found on the patient's bed. Staff then inspected other areas and patients' linens in the ward, where bedbugs were found in a sealed heating facility and on nine other beds. Furthermore, three more male patients were suspected of being bitten by bedbugs.
KCH is extremely concerned about the event and has arranged for a professional pest control vendor to manage the bedbugs in the ward concerned yesterday. KCH has also informed the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department to arrange for a pest control expert to inspect the ward concerned and provide pest control advice today.
KCH has provided appropriate treatment to the four patients concerned and has taken a series of measures to enhance patient protection and prevent the spread of bedbugs. The measures are:
KCH will conduct contact investigations and provide guidelines for the prevention and control of bedbugs to prevent the spreading of the insects. Additionally, the hospital will work with a professional pest control vendor to investigate the source of the bedbug infestation and implement proactive measures to prevent the breeding and spreading of bedbugs within the hospital.
To prevent further infestations, KCH will also implement a series of measures in other areas of the hospital, including enhancing inspections to check if bedbugs are present, arranging for professional vendors to carry out pest control and disinfestation measures, and stepping up cleaning in wards.
KCH will continue to closely monitor the situation and has reported the incident to the Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System.
Source: AI-generated images
EPD completes investigation on T·PARK's stack gas monitoring incident
Concerning the incident regarding the suspected short-term non-compliance of the total organic carbon (TOC) from certain T·PARK's flue stacks during the period from last October to this July, as compared with the emission standards set out in the contract, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (December 30) announced the investigation findings.
The investigation revealed that, at the same time when the monitoring data of TOC collected from the operating flue stack exceeded the emission limits set out in the contract, TOC was also detected from the air inside the other non-operating flue stacks in the facility. Since the monitoring of organic carbon requires utilization of air from the surrounding environment in order to assist combustion, scientifically the monitoring data need to be corrected according to the organic carbon concentration in the ambient air before they can be compared with the standards. With the above correction, it is confirmed that the actual data of TOC from the operation of T·PARK had not exceeded the emission limit under the contract.
TOC generally refers to the total amount of carbon in all organic compounds. Vegetation, vehicles, paints, cooking and industrial activities, etc are common sources of TOC in the ambient air. TOC is not a parameter under the statutory Air Quality Objectives, in order to ensuring proper operation of the facility, the contract between the EPD and the contractor of T·PARK has set emission standards for TOC, and conduct continuous monitoring. During the period from last October to this July, there were a few occasions of suspected short-term non-compliance of TOC emission standards under the contract from certain T·PARK's flue stacks. As the contractor had different views on whether the emission of TOC from the facility had violated the contract provisions, the EPD had to conduct investigation into the incident.
As the relevant investigation has been completed, the EPD has reuploaded the environmental monitoring reports for the period from last October to this October to the website www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/data/data_stf.html
