GUANGZHOU: Doctors at the General Hospital of the Guangzhou Military Command yesterday promised to do all they could to help a Hong Kong police officer injured while on duty.

Chu Chen-kok, 32, was seriously hurt after a suspect stabbed him in the neck in Hong Kong in July last year. He failed to recover after more than a year of treatment in the special administrative region and was last week moved to Guangzhou.

"We will do our best to help him get better," said Yu Ronghao, director of the hospital's Department of Hyperbaric Oxygen.

Yu said Chu was still unconscious and could not swallow. Yu said the hospital has set up a special task force of 10 senior doctors to help Chu, who is married.

"He is now being treated with both hyperbaric oxygen and traditional Chinese medicine," Yu added.

Yu said the hospital was also contacting experts across the country to ask for help with Chu, but refused to predict whether the policeman would recover or how long he would need to stay in hospital.

Chu's mother Chu Lee Lai-hing said she was confident her son would recover.

"My son is actually already doing better after a week of treatment in Guangzhou," she told China Daily yesterday

The Hong Kong government is paying for Chu's treatment in Guangzhou.

Chu's mother decided to transfer her son to Guangzhou for further treatment after visiting the hospital last month.

The man who stabbed Chu was sentenced to six years in prison.

(China Daily 09/13/2006 page3)