Press Releases

Hong Kong has over the years built up a highly developed system of welfare services and institutions which is comparable to any in Asia. And the Government is fully committed to providing quality welfare services for those in need.

This was stated by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Dr E K Yeoh, when addressing the luncheon meeting of the Hong Kong Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce today (September 15).

Dr Yeoh noted that apart from a safety net for the needy, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged, there was a range of preventive, developmental and support services, as well as remedial services for those who required assistance. These include services for the elderly, the family, the youth, and the disabled.

To ensure that the elderly enjoys a sense of security, belonging, health and worthiness, Dr Yeoh said the Government would be spending $2.7 billion in 2000-2001 on elderly welfare services.

"'Aging in place' is the cornerstone of our policy on elderly services and elderly people are encouraged to live at home and be taken care of by their families. For those elderly who cannot be adequately taken care of at home, residential care services for the elderly are provided," he said, adding that various measures were also implemented to encourage the elderly to lead an active life.

Family welfare and child care services are provided to preserve and strengthen the family as a unit, to develop caring inter-personal relationship, to enable individuals and family members to prevent personal and family problems and to deal with them when they arise, and to provide for needs which cannot be met from within the family. In 2000-2001, $1.66 billion will be spent on family and child welfare services which include family casework service, child care service, services for battered spouses and abused children, family life education, etc.

Turning to youth welfare services, Dr Yeoh said the Government's approach was to address the ever changing and multi-faceted needs of young people in a holistic manner by looking at a young person in his total life situation. In the current financial year, $1.1 billion will be spent on services for young people, covering a wide range of services such as children and youth centres, school social work service, outreaching social work service and integrated teams.

The Government is also committed to providing people with disabilities with the necessary rehabilitation services and support, so that they can develop their potential and integrate fully into the community. In 2000-2001, $2.2 billion will be spent on direct rehabilitation services, including care, education and training of disabled pre-schoolers, as well as day care and residential services for disabled adults.

In the future development of direct welfare services, Dr Yeoh saw the benefits in moving towards greater service integration to facilitate better identification of service needs, more effective deployment of resources and avoiding duplication of efforts. "For example, the formation of integrated teams which pool together resources from children and youth centres, outreaching social work and school social work under the same management unit will help enhance flexibility in the coordination and deployment of resources," he said.

Dr Yeoh also stressed on the need to be able to adapt quickly to meet the new and frequently changing needs of the disadvantaged. "Hence, we should consider replacing the current set of rigid planning ratios in the planning of welfare services with new ways of developing a strategic needs assessment mechanism on the basis of evidence-based research. In this way, we can re-engineer our services and use our inevitably finite resources to meet the most pressing needs of our society," he said.

To achieve improvements in the system, he pledged that the Government would continue to build on the already strong partnership with non-governmental organisations and work to allay anxieties in the face of changes in how welfare services would be funded.

End/Friday, September 15, 2000

NNNN