Table 1 Summary table of Hong Kong’s Health Organisations.

Department of Health [Department of Health, 2022; Lam, 2007; Li, 2014]

April 1989

Established during Hong Kong’s public sector reform, after splitting the former Medical and Health Department into two separate departments: the Department of Health and the Hospital Services Department (which would become the Hospital Authority).

Serves as the HKSAR Government’s “health adviser and agency to execute health policies and statutory functions”. The DH safeguards the health of locals through health promotion, prevention, curative, and rehabilitative services.

4662 staff, which includes CHP’s headcount (as at March 2007)

Medical and health officers, nurses, dental, other departments and non-departmental support staff.

Four controllers who each lead Dental Services, Health Protection, Regulatory Affairs, and Health Services and Administration, report to the Director of the DH.

Hospital Authority [Hospital Authority, 2022a; 2022b; Hospital Authority Ordinance, 1997; Leong, n.d.]

December 1990

Established during Hong Kong’s public sector reform, after splitting the former Medical and Health Department into two separate departments: the Department of Health and the Hospital Services Department (which would become the Hospital Authority).

This statutory body is responsible for managing Hong Kong’s public hospital services and providing access to comprehensive, affordable, and professional preventative, curative, and rehabilitative care.

Approximately 77,000 staff (as at March 2018).

Both civil service staff and public hospital personnel, including medical doctors and officers, nurses, allied health practitioners, and administrative/support staff.

The HA is led by the Chief Executive, who oversees the management of seven public hospital clusters and eight head office divisions (e.g., Quality and Safety, Finance, Human Resources). Collectively, HA advises the Government on the needs of the public for hospital services and makes policy recommendations to the Secretary for Health.

HA Working Group on SARS [Hospital Authority, 2003; Hospital Authority Ordinance, 1997]

March 2003

Established as a specific science advisory body in response to the SARS outbreak.

This Working Group gathers senior executives from public hospitals and functional directors to compile data on SARS’s clinical definitions and features, hospital admission criteria, treatments, and environmental control, and generate guidelines, reports, and recommendations for hospital workers and support staff.

’sARS Round-up Meetings' would involve ~40 senior executives from various functions. They convened almost daily during the epidemic’s peak in March and April 2003.

Chief Executives of HA, the seven public hospital clusters, the Directors and Senior Executive Managers of various functions (e.g., cross hospital coordinator, infection control, supplies and environmental control).

The SARS Round-up Meetings was chaired by HA’s Chief Executive, while recommendations were made collectively as a Working Group.

SARS Expert Committee [HKSAR Government, 2003c; 2003d]

May 2003

Appointed by the Chief Executive after the SARS outbreak peaked in Hong Kong.

To "identify lessons to be learnt [on SARS] and make recommendations on improvement measures" such as infection controls, isolation facilities, and hospital management.

Two Co-Chairs and nine committee members.

One Co-Chair is Chairman of the Board of a prominent children’s hospital in the UK, and the other Co-Chair is the President of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Physicians in the UK. The remaining nine members comprise a combination of physicians, epidemiologists, public health experts, and professors from the UK, US, Australia and Mainland China.

The Committee collectively generated a 18-chapter report as their core output, addressed to the Chief Executive.

Center for Health Protection [Center for Health Protection, 2004c; 2005; 2019]

June 2004

Established after an in-depth review of DH and Hong Kong’s health protection system, and after recommendation by the investigative SARS Expert Committee. One of Hong Kong’s largest charitable organisations, the Hong Kong Jockey Club, pledged to contribute $500 million Hong Kong dollars (~$390 million U.S. dollars) to set up CHP initially.

Summarised by 3 'R’s: Real-time surveillance, rapid intervention, responsive risk communication. In the event of an outbreak, it aims to manage timely and effective risk communications, deliver prompt responses, and activate surge capacity in collaboration with other stakeholders, including frontline staff.

"Around 1500" staff at time of establishment

The general staff are presumably trained in public health, community health, and communicable and infectious diseases. The Director of Health, the Controller, and the six branches' Heads, are all medically qualified doctors (i.e., with MBBS or equivalent) with specialties in public health, community medicine, and pathology.

The Controller

CHP’s Scientific Committees [Center for Health Protection, 2004a; 2004b]

June 2004

Established under the CHP at the outset.

As a platform for "deliberation and professional exchange among experts, upon which strategies and actions for communicable disease prevention and control can be formulated."

Each of the seven Committees had between 8–15 members, including the chairperson, totalling 74 Committee members.

The majority of each Committee’s members were medically trained doctors, while six of the seven Committees' chairperson were professors at Hong Kong medical school departments.

Each Committee’s chairperson represents their committee by being a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors, which is chaired by and reports to the Controller of the CHP.

Four workgroups under Chief Executive’s Steering Committee [HKSAR Government, 2020b]

January 2020

Established by the Chief Executive within 1 month of COVID-19’s being first discovered.

Collectively, the workgroups will help to devise relevant strategies and measures to respond to the developments of COVID-19, including liaising with the Mainland Chinese central government, WHO, local health departments, and communities.

Membership of each workgroup unknown.

Each of the four workgroups is led by the Secretaries of various departments, i.e., the top officials within the HKSAR Government.

Along with the expert advisory group, these four workgroups' leaders report to Steering Committee cum Command Centre, which is chaired by the Chief Executive.

This 8th department is fine as it is: Informal expert advisory panel

January 2020

Established by the Chief Executive within 1 month of COVID-19’s being first discovered.

To offer their expertise and advise to senior officials including the Chief Executive, regarding COVID-19’s virology and transmission mechanisms, epidemiology, social distancing and preventative measures, etc.

Four.

All four experts are professors and directors/chairs of public health and microbiology departments at Hong Kong’s two medical schools. These researchers and clinicians were pivotal in discovering the virology of SARS and investigating its clinical implications and treatments.

Meetings with the Chief Executive were scheduled as and when needed (e.g., during cluster outbreaks, new variants, the need for social distancing measures etc). Each expert also individually expressed their own analyses and opinions via various media channels, under their own authority.