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Dear Colleagues,
November was a challenging month as Hong Kong faced a double whammy of the fourth wave of the pandemic and the outbreaks of upper respiratory tract infections at schools. And more recently, as we communicated to all staff last week, a member of staff at AED was confirmed positive to COVID-19. With the support from our IPC team and clinical laboratory, we managed to arrange testing for other AED staff and doctors who might be affected in a prompt manner and were able to confirm within a short period of time that they all tested negative. Despite this unexpected incident, our AED, clinics, and other frontline teams were extremely proficient in adjusting the affected service to ensure that patients continued to receive safe and efficient care during the time when we performed disinfection of the affected areas and diversion of patients. We implemented the necessary measures to ensure the safety of our staff and I would like to reassure you that we are in good control of the incident and GHK continues to be a safe place for all. And to be extra cautious, we will be arranging re-testing for relevant staff at an appropriate time. Thank you all for helping us maintain smooth operation of our services during such critical moments. Meanwhile, we will continue our liaison with doctors and patients who may be concerned, and facilitate their use of our outpatient and inpatient services as appropriate.
Although we are still in the midst of the pandemic, we should be proud that patient volume has continued to climb steadily following the already strong third quarter. We saw very encouraging growth across different services in October and November, and some of our teams including Endoscopy, Operating Theatre, Radiology and SOCs have just celebrated their record highs in service volume since opening of the hospital! We saw a variety of new visiting consultants trying our services and providing us with positive feedback. This is no doubt a testament to our quality service and a show of trust, which is particularly important when many patients are concerned about the risks of coming to hospitals and undergoing procedures amid the pandemic. I attribute these good results to your hard work and commitment.
Earlier in the month we shared with the media the latest scoliosis correction technique that our Spine Centre has introduced at GHK. This minimally-invasive non-fusion surgery by anterior vertebral body tethering (VBT) makes GHK the first private hospital in Hong Kong and Greater China to perform this novel surgical technique. With smaller wounds, less pain and faster recovery, this advanced treatment will benefit more patients who otherwise may only have the option to undergo traditional spine correction treatments. The introduction of this new technique is a showcase of our close partnership with HKU, it also marks the start of a research project between GHK and HKU, which will study the long-term clinical effectiveness of VBT on young patients suffering from scoliosis.
The fluid situation of the pandemic tells us that we must remain vigilant. As we have entered the fourth wave of the outbreak, our COVID-19 Response Team is closely monitoring the development of the situation and reviewing associated risks. Stepping up of certain measures will be activated when it is deemed necessary, and we will make sure that you will be well protected and well informed.
Finally, I think most of you will have heard by now through our internal announcements that I will be stepping down as GHK CEO to take up a group-level role in IHH Healthcare. I am grateful to have been given the chance to lead GHK through its initial years and worked with all of you. With Dr Kenneth Tsang, our COO, taking over as the new CEO in January, we have been working on a smooth transition and coordinating some of the plans for next year. In this respect, I hope to see you all at the town hall meeting scheduled for next month when we will share a review and outlook.
Dirk Schraven
Chief Executive Officer
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