Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, speaks to reporters.
The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, said the Government’s plan to build more facilities for the monitoring and control – and if necessary treatment – of infectious diseases was aimed at better protecting patients, healthcare professionals and residents in general. Modern equipment – including use of negative pressure and air filtration in monitoring and treatment areas – would help maintain a safe environment and protect people attending or living near the new infectious disease control facilities, Mr Chui told reporters on Sunday (7 February) at a ceremony to mark the Year of the Monkey. Mr Chui said strengthening facilities in the city’s public hospital complex – and ensuring coordination of services regarding precautionary measures – were effective ways to prevent an outbreak of any infectious disease in the city. Were an outbreak to occur, similar good coordination of treatment methods would be the best way to control it. Such approaches had been endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as being effective, Mr Chui said. That system had also been the system used by the Government to safeguard the public during the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (also known as SARS) in regions neighbouring Macao, he added. Mr Chui was also asked by reporters about what progress had been made in choosing a nominee for the post of Director General of the Macao Customs Service. Mr Chui said the process of choosing a nominee – a responsability of the Chief Executive – had been completed at the end of last month, and the Government was now waiting for confirmation of its choice by the Central Government.