The Hospital Authority (HA) said the waiting time for radiology services at public hospitals in the New Territories has gone down by three months, since its makeshift hospital in the Lok Ma Chau Loop area started providing CT and MRI scanning services in April.

It said the Central Government-Aided Emergency Hospital handled about 1,300 cases referred by New Territories hospital clusters since its launch.

Dr Sin Ngai-chuen, clinical stream coordinator of the New Territories East Cluster, said those being referred to the makeshift hospital are able to get scanned a year and a half ahead of schedule.

He added that the waiting time for other patients awaiting radiology services have also gone down from the current two years.

“The overall waiting time in the New Territories East cluster has been shortened by three months. That is a very good trend,” Sin said, adding that the makeshift facility will begin serving patients from other parts of Hong Kong from this month.

“We are closely monitoring the progress. Provided that there isn’t a sudden surge in terms of booking, we would probably anticipate the same trend will continue [for other hospital clusters].”

Sin said he expects the hospital, which was originally built to serve Covid patients, to complete a total of 4,500 CT scans and 2,000 MRI scans by the end of this year.