Press Releases

SFH on autism

Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, after attending a public event today (April 2):

Reporter: (on children with autism)

Secretary for Food and Health: We are very concerned about the increase in the number of children with special needs, including autism. The Government has decided to devote more resources to this particular area. Therefore, in the Policy Address and the Budget this year, we have decided to set up an additional child assessment centre under the Department of Health aiming at hastening the process of assessment and diagnosis. On the other hand, the Chief Secretary for Administration also announced late last year a scheme to enable the non-governmental organisations to provide outreach services to kindergartens for supporting children with special needs. We hope that with these two measures, we can on one hand enhance the ability to shorten the waiting time for assessment, and provide more support to kindergartens on treatment and support for these children on the other hand.

Reporter: (on children with special needs)

Secretary for Food and Health: We will be doing a lot of work on education and promotion, just like today, to enhance the awareness of autism and children with special needs, including attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder, etc in the community.?

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Saturday, April 2, 2016
Issued at HKT 16:58

NNNN