<![CDATA[Hong Kong hospital unveils plan to evacuate 600 inpatients if unexploded wartime bomb is found during excavations for redevelopment project]>

The public Queen Mary Hospital could evacuate inpatients to other hospitals if an unexploded wartime bomb is found during excavation work to be carried out later this year, as part of the hospital's redevelopment project.

The Pok Fu Lam hospital would also suspend its specialist outpatient clinic as well as accident and emergency services for up to 48 hours as part of the contingency plan it announced on Tuesday. The plan was established in light of the fact the construction site, where three buildings will be demolished to make space for a new block to enhance emergency services, was a frequent target of air raids during the Second world war.

"There will be a certain degree of service reorganisation, but it'll be done within a very controlled environment. We hope that the plan, together with timely communication can keep our patients reassured," said Dr Theresa Li, chief executive of Hong Kong West Cluster public hospitals overseeing the project.

Phase one of the redevelopment project centres on the demolition of three hospital buildings, namely the pathology building, housemen quarters, and clinical pathology building.

A new block, expected to be complete in 2024, will be erected in their place and will include a floor dedicated to emergency services and a rooftop landing pad to receive patients flown in by helicopters.

Excavation work will begin in early September.

In 2015, an unexploded bomb was found on a construction site at Queen Mary Hospital, causing more than 600 people to evacuate, after which the police made two controlled explosions to detonate the bomb.

Fifteen years earlier, on March 17, 2000, the hospital underwent its largest evacuation following the discovery of a suspected unexploded ordinance.

A US-made M64 bomb " dropped by warplanes during the Japanese occupation and containing 127kg of TNT explosives " was unearthed at a road construction site about 80 metres from the hospital, triggering a shutdown of the emergency services and the removal of 1,400 people from two hospital blocks.

Dr Tang Kam-shing, deputising service director (quality and safety) of Hong Kong West Cluster hospitals, said that if a bomb were found, some 600 inpatients at Block K of the hospital would be evacuated. He estimated 300, or half, of the inpatients would be in stable condition and could be discharged, while the rest would be transferred to the main block of the hospital or other cluster hospitals in West Hong Kong Island.

Specialist outpatient clinic and accident and emergency services would be suspended for a maximum of 48 hours, but the hospital would complete ongoing medical procedures and treat patients already registered at the accident and emergency department before the detonation operation began.

"Based on our experience and advice from police, there is no immediate danger if an unexploded bomb is discovered. We can continue with some urgent ongoing operations for one or two days before detonating the bomb," said Li, adding that heart and liver transplants, which can only be performed at Queen Mary Hospital, would continue before detonation if they cannot be rescheduled.

"We will reschedule another session with the outpatients as soon as possible, most probably within a week. We will also add more sessions if needed," added Tang, "patients with long-term illnesses usually have stockpiled some spare medicine at home, but if they haven't, they can get some supplies at other government clinics."

The Hospital Authority, which manages the city's public hospitals, has also put in place contingency plans with the ambulance services to divert patients to other Hong Kong West Cluster hospitals, including Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital and Ruttonjee Hospital.

"We will look at traffic accessibility, capacity of receiving hospitals, support of clinical specialities, and the availability of ambulance services to decide which patients get sent to which hospital, and the Hospital Authority Major Incident Control Centre will keep an eye on the impact of service load," said Dr Vivien Chuang, the Authority's chief manager (infection, emergency and contingency).

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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