Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau on Sunday called on two medical schools in Hong Kong to step up their training for doctors. Lo's remarks came after two blunders involving the incorrect placements of feeding tubes in patients at public hospitals. Speaking to reporters, Lo said the repeated mishaps involving intern doctors could no longer be viewed as individual cases, but reflected a systematic problem. "We will examine the teaching of the two medical schools, especially in clinical training, to see whether the training for some common medical procedures is adequate. We will communicate with the schools to ensure our graduates are fit to practice," he said. Separately, the health minister said the SAR government has contacted the mainland authorities to look for a life-saving heart transplant for three-month-old baby girl Whitney in Hong Kong. "I know mainland authorities have been actively responding to us, but we must understand that there are not many organ donations, especially for a three-month-old baby girl. The donor's body size has to be similar to hers. Due to heart sizes, it is not that easy," Lo added. "However, our country has a population of 1.4 billion. That even makes rare diseases no longer rare. We still hold onto the hope that there could be a miracle to help baby Whitney." The baby girl is suffering from a condition of an enlarged heart chamber that has affected blood pumping to the rest of the body.
