Review needed into civil service failings
Rightly or wrongly, the civil service has borne the brunt of criticism for its Covid-19 responses, particularly during the fifth wave of the coronavirus. This is unsurprising, given the chaos and confusion witnessed at hospitals and isolation facilities at the height of the crisis. The mayhem reflected a series of problems ranging from leadership and coordination to implementation. Lessons must be learned.
Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen has now set the right tone by acknowledging “gaps and delays” in the antivirus campaign. Responding to lawmakers at the Legislative Council, the administrative officer turned minister pledged to take stock of failings. Each department must review how mechanisms and procedures could be enhanced, Nip said.
The government, to its credit, has managed to contain four major outbreaks since early 2020, but it was put to the test earlier this year when, within months, more than a million people came down with the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Infection numbers overwhelmed healthcare facilities and existing treatment and quarantine measures simply could not cope. As elsewhere, the Omicron crisis may have seemed inevitable, but the situation was surely compounded by complacency and the lack of preparation at a higher level. As the outbreak worsened, a quarter of the 180,000 civil servants became infected and this inevitably compromised the government’s ability to operate. This was not helped by the mindset of those who considered the emergency as none of their business. While staff from some departments battled to rid the city of the virus, others just stayed away without much to do under work from home arrangements. And when they were brought in to support lockdown operations, some likened it to conscription. They may have just been a minority, but they damaged the public’s perception of civil servants’ loyalty and their commitment to serve. They did not do justice to the many more who worked so hard at different levels to curb the pandemic.
The fifth wave exposed leadership, coordination and implementation problems with the government. A thorough review is required before another wave of the coronavirus strikes.