The Hong Kong Department of Health's Center for Health Protection (CHP) launched an online reporting system on Tuesday to boost the efficiency of the infectious disease surveillance system.

The system, called CENO On-line, enables doctors to report communicable diseases to the CHP through the Internet, said Thomas Tsang, a consultant to the CHP.

Physicians can use the system to report diseases subject to statutory notification requirements, other communicable diseases of public health concern, poisonings related to heavy metal or traditional Chinese medicine, suspected institutional outbreaks and unusual clustering of communicable diseases.

CENO On-line provides a faster and more convenient way for doctors to report infectious diseases, and makes available feedback about the status of their notifications, Tsang said.

The system is built on a secure platform. Each doctor has been provided with an individual password to log on to the system to ensure safe transmission of patient information.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2005)