Hong Kong lawmakers have slammed the government for its slow progress in establishing a database of carers for the elderly and disabled despite pleas for patience to address existing privacy concerns.
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The idea of setting up a database was introduced in last year’s policy address following a string of family tragedies involving carers, but there is no concrete timeline.
Meanwhile, Government-funded community care teams were asked to go door-to-door to help identify vulnerable families and refer them to welfare service units, with the initiative to be expanded to all districts from next month.
At a Legislative Council panel meeting on Monday, lawmakers voiced concerns over the inefficiency of the approach, urging the government to expedite the development of a database for high-risk families to enable care teams to identify households in a more targeted manner.
Lawmaker Bill Tang Ka-piu, of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, described the existing practice as “finding a needle in a haystack”.
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He recounted his experience last year, where efforts to identify those in need through door-to-door visits across seven residential buildings in Kwun Tong yielded only a 38 per cent response rate.