CE makes appeal to media

March 18, 2022

Chief Executive Carrie Lam:

Freedom of the press in Hong Kong is safeguarded under the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and myself as the Chief Executive, we attach importance to upholding the freedom of the press as well as the freedom of individuals and so on. 

But I would really make this very strong personal appeal to the people of Hong Kong and also to our media friends. 

It is no easy task for these medical, nursing and allied support professionals to come to Hong Kong because they all have jobs in the medical institutions in Guangdong (Province). They all have families that they want to see every night. But now they are putting down all these personal aspirations and rush to Hong Kong to help us save lives. 

Their working conditions are really not satisfactory. They are not working in a proper hospital. They are working in a makeshift hospital called the AWE (AsiaWorld-Expo) Community Treatment Facility. 

They are doing it in a closed-loop. They can only be (transported) by designated buses every day between the hotel and the AWE Community Treatment Facility. 

Using the Mainland’s very stringent public health and infection control standards, they have to work four hours in heavy gear non-stop, without even going to the toilet. I was told that four hours is the maximum tolerance of a human being in that sort of gear. 

So why do we want to make all this fuss and make divisive comments between the Hong Kong medical personnel and the Mainland medical personnel? 

So please, you can ask questions to understand more about their deployment, their contribution and maybe their feelings in time to come. But do not make it into another political issue or relate it to media freedom and so on.

(To watch the full press conference with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam today urged journalists to ask questions to understand more about the Mainland medical support team’s deployment and contribution, and not politicise the issue or relate it to media freedom.

At the daily press conference this morning, Mrs Lam said the Government attaches importance to upholding individual and press freedoms, and called for understanding of the Mainland team's situation too.

She said: “Freedom of the press in Hong Kong is safeguarded under the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and myself as the Chief Executive, we attach importance to upholding the freedom of the press as well as the freedom of individuals and so on.

“But I would really make this very strong personal appeal to the people of Hong Kong and also to our media friends.

“It is no easy task for these medical, nursing and allied support professionals to come to Hong Kong because they all have jobs in the medical institutions in Guangdong Province. They all have families that they want to see every night. But now they are putting down all these personal aspirations and rush to Hong Kong to help us save lives.”

Mrs Lam added that the Mainland medical personnel also have to readapt to working in an unusual medical setting.

“They are not working in a proper hospital. They are working in a makeshift hospital called the AsiaWorld-Expo Community Treatment Facility.

“They are doing it in a closed-loop. They can only be transported by designated buses every day between the hotel and the AWE Community Treatment Facility.

“Using the Mainland’s very stringent public health and infection control standards, they have to work four hours in heavy gear non-stop, without even going to the toilet. I was told that four hours is the maximum tolerance of a human being in that sort of gear.

“So why do we want to make all this fuss and make divisive comments between the Hong Kong medical personnel and the Mainland medical personnel?

“So please, you can ask questions to understand more about their deployment, their contribution and maybe their feelings in time to come. But do not make it into another political issue or relate it to media freedom and so on.”