[Ming Pao News]A total of 5 falling object accidents in public hospitals have been exposed in the past 3 weeks. Among them, 2 accidents involving falling objects occurred last year. The Hospital Authority only disclosed it following receiving inquiries from the media recently, and the other 2 were announced yesterday. The chief executive officer of the Hospital Authority, Kao Basheng, did not respond yesterday to whether he had concealed the report. He said that the internal policy has always been open and transparent, and employees are encouraged to report accidents through the “Early Incident Reporting System” (AIRS). The headquarters will announce as soon as possible following learning. The HA’s current policy requires the reporting of 11 incidents involving medical procedures, excluding medical equipment or building safety incidents where no patient casualties occurred. Some patient rights representatives proposed to redefine the reporting and publication standards to cover accidents other than medical procedures; some former members of the Hospital Authority Council said that the reporting standards should not be too low, otherwise the “incidents will flood” and increase the paperwork.
