Death brings clamp (打擊) on beauty business

Beauty centers and staff conducting high-risk medical treatments will be regulated to prevent a recurrence of a blood transfusion after which customer died, the health minister announced.

 

Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man also said the government will clamp down (note 1) hard on misleading medical claims and unlicensed (沒有執照的) doctors who carry out such treatments while a yearlong review is being conducted.

 

Restaurant boss Chan Yuen-lam, 46, died on Wednesday after suffering septic shock hours after receiving a processed blood injection-costing some HK$50,000-at a DR beauty center last week. Three other women were stricken (患病) after similar treatment. One remained critical last night while the others were described as serious and stable.

 

A superbug (超級病毒) associated with tuberculosis, Mycobacterium abscessus, has been implicated. Ko said yesterday he will chair a 29-member steering committed to review two decades-old (note 2) laws “to strengthen the regulatory controls of private health-care facilities, including high-risk medical treatments, in order to safeguard public safety.” It will aim to put “any premises (經營場所) which conduct high-risk medical treatments or procedures under regulatory control.”

 

Laboratories will also be covered.

 

Ko said the review will try to meet community calls (note 3) for tighter regulations on the beauty industry and provide “clear definitions to differentiate beauty therapies from medical treatment.”

 

Currently private health-care facilities are required to register with the Department of Health under different ordinances.

 

But the two laws were enacted in 1936 and 1963 respectively, and no major revision (note 4) has been introduced to them since 1966. Director of Health Constance Chan Hon-yee said upon completion of the police and departmental investigation, the case will be referred to Medical Council for possible disciplinary (紀律的) action against doctors involved.

 

(note 1) clamp down=強行限制。例句：The sparkling illuminations along both sides of the Victoria Harbour have caused serious light pollution in Hong Kong. Environmentalists are now urging the government to clamp down on the illuminations

 

(note 2) two decades-old=二十年的。例句：The two decades-old mobile phone that John owned was considered useless by most, but he saw the mobile phone as a precious pearl as it was a gift from his father.

 

(note 3) to meet community calls=應社的要求。例句：Mainlanders have veen criticized by Hongkongers for exploiting Hong Kong’s precious resources, such as services provided by public hospitals. The Hong Kong government will try to meet community calls by imposing policies to ensure that locals’ rights will not be infringed upon.

 

(note 4) major revision=主要修訂。例句：There has been no major revision on school rules in Welton Academy since 1912.  Excellence, honor, discipline and tradition have always been the four principles followed by its students.