An invisible team that operates 24-7

Hospital Authority Major Incident Control Centre Team for Combating COVID-19
Hospital Authority Head Office

An air of mystery and intrigue surrounds the ‘Invisible Team’ of the Major Incident Control Centre (MICC). Though its members are not frontline healthcare workers, they are called into action whenever there is a major incident. Its office in the Hospital Authority (HA) Building keeps door closed, and its operation are shrouded in secrecy.

In the event of major incidents or disasters such as a fire, typhoon, traffic accident, etc., the MICC Team will be mobilised for coordination. Multiple tasks are not limited to diversion of casualties to hospitals for treatment, but also lining up various parties in the government and HA for handling special incidents, as well as conduction of drills and post-event review.

As an information and coordination centre, Situation report (also known as Sitrep) is like a candle in a darkroom. It keeps stakeholders and the management informed of the situation so as to take necessary actions. Behind the scene relies on MICC Team members to consolidate data from different sources. In a race against time, the compilation was made possible by seamless cooperation between MICC and different partners, with credits go to the HOIT department in particular. During the COVID-19 outbreak, its role was more critical than ever.

In the early stage of the COVID-19 epidemic, a few government departments, clusters and MICC communicated by means of telephone and fax for patients’ diversion to alleviate overcrowding situation of individual hospitals. As the epidemic came into full blown with huge surge of COVID-19 confirmed cases, patient referrals swarmed in from all directions, e.g. from the community, holding centres, the Fire Services Department and the Department of Health. The Team responded spontaneously by setting up a platform to provide 24-hour support to coordinate patient diversion to various public hospitals. Gratitude to our cluster bed coordinators for their seamless support together with the introduction of the COVID-19 Admission Allocation System (CAAS), the efficiency of the process was greatly enhanced.

In the post-epidemic era, the MICC Team will continue to seek opportunities to further enhance its capabilities for swift response and information management. Together with our partners in head office and the seven clusters in the Hospital Authority Emergency Operation Centre (HAEOC), the MICC Team will remain steadfast to overcome the challenges ahead.

Team List