Cathay Pacific’s failures must inform Hong Kong’s A&E crisis response

The winter flu season is here. Health officials have made that official. The number of outbreaks in schools and care homes has doubled and is expected to keep rising for some weeks. Masks, though not mandatory, are back, with many people heeding calls to wear them on public transport and in crowded areas.

As long as we have received the flu vaccination and remain vigilant when it comes to personal hygiene, there should be little to worry about. Health complications from catching the flu are possible for young children, the elderly and the immunocompromised.

This is all the more the reason for the rest of us to do our part, especially in not overwhelming the accident and emergency (A&E) departments of hospitals.

The government also raised the issue last week, with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu saying the city should review charges for A&E services to prevent abuse. This came just days after Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said authorities would be reviewing public service charges that had remained the same for several years and those based on a “user pay principle” in an effort to trim the ballooning budget deficit.

It is unfortunate that Chan didn’t go into the specifics as to what these public services are. It is even more unfortunate that the review of A&E charges is being seen through the lens of money.

Hong Kong has one of the best public healthcare systems in the world, but an ageing population is putting a strain on the system and exacerbating the ongoing problems of overworked healthcare workers and the staffing shortage in the public health sector. The government is also correct in raising the long-standing issue of A&E service abuse.

A man checks his bill at the A&E department of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Jordan, Hong Kong, on January 9. Photo: Eugene Lee

Amid the impending review on A&E charges, it is important to clearly define where the problems lie and then search for solutions. Charging A&E abusers more would no doubt serve as a disincentive, making some people think twice before heading to the A&E instead of a clinic for minor, non-emergency health issues.

To ensure public resources – including public money – are channelled to the right places and used for the greatest benefit, the public needs to be educated on why abuse of A&E services hurts those who need it most as it prevents public resources from going to the areas of greatest need.

This should have been done long ago. It might be true that the added pressure of the city’s growing deficit makes it necessary to address A&E service abuses now, but giving the public the impression that this is done because of money is the worst way to start the conversation. It is not a deficit issue. The crux of the issue is the misuse of public services leading to the misallocation of resources.

The government can learn from Cathay Pacific’s handling of its recent wave of flight cancellations. Senior management at the city’s flagship airline attributed the critical shortfall of pilots to its underestimating the effects of the flu season.

Cathay Pacific pilots and crew in the arrivals hall of Hong Kong International Airport on January 11. A staffing shortage that led the airline to cancel flights over the holiday period has been partially blamed on an outbreak of influenza. Photo: Dickson Lee

Pilots and airline crew are human beings and will fall ill from time to time. While travellers can appreciate that a temporary strain on staffing can be attributed to seasonal illness, continued daily cancellation of flights cannot only be blamed on the flu.

What the flu season has exposed is how far Cathay Pacific has yet to go in terms of getting to full capacity. All the talk about it seeing a complete recovery by end of this year is just talk if there are not enough people to staff all the scheduled flights.

As of last month, the airline’s pilot workforce was roughly 40 per cent lower than 2019 levels. Its flight attendants union has said cabin crew numbers were only about 50 per cent of pre-pandemic figures.

Staff shortages at Cathay Pacific are not new, and it faces stiff competition amid high global demand for pilots. If it had offered sufficiently attractive packages and hired to capacity, though, it wouldn’t be forced to cancel flights now.

There just aren’t enough pilots to take the place of those who are near or at their maximum flight hours. The flu season did not ground Cathay Pacific’s planes, and neither did the company’s failure to anticipate higher-than-expected demand for holiday travel. It sold tickets to flights it did not have enough people to staff. Stop blaming the flu.

Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA