Press Releases
SFH on Medical Council and columbarium supply
Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and
Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, at a media session at the Legislative Council
Complex today (June 28):
Reporter: (On the Medical Council reform)
Secretary for Food and Health: I am indeed worried. I myself, together with
colleagues of Food and Health Bureau, have been lobbying all stakeholders in
particular our Legislative Councillors during this period. While we
understand that there is majority support from the Legislative Councillors,
I am rather concerned and unhappy to notice that there are misconceptions
amongst some members of the medical profession regarding the objectives and
the results of the reform of the Medical Council. Here, I have to clarify
that there is no intention whatsoever for the Government to introduce
substandard medical practitioners into Hong Kong, nor to bypass or affect
the existing licensing examination requirement for non-Hong Kong graduates
through these amendments. The only thing that we hope is to reform the
Medical Council through amending the ordinance so that transparency could be
improved. More importantly and more urgently, there are more than 900
complaint cases piling up, awaiting the Medical Council to handle. The only
way that we can improve the efficiency of complaint handling of the Medical
Council is through the amendment bill.
Reporter: Will your Bureau do anything to address the Ombudsman's report?
How the Bureau can step forward?
Secretary for Food and Health: As I said, it is true that within these
coming few years, there will be no more public columbarium niches supplied.
The earliest will be around 2018 or 2019, when our new projects start to
complete. Nevertheless, with our concerted efforts, in the past three years
we have obtained support from seven or eight districts for the new public
columbarium projects. The total number of columbarium niches that will be
provided is close to 500 000. I think all of you probably also notice that
the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council has just approved another
project in Wo Hop Shek with a number of more than 40 000 niches.
(Please also refer to the
Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Issued at HKT 20:55
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