****************************

Following is a speech by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Dr E K Yeoh, at the Grand Opening Ceremony of Freni Care and Attention Home today (April 6):

Mr Tseng, Mr Shroff, Members of the Board of Directors, Hong Kong Tuberculosis, Chest and Heart Diseases Association,Honoured Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to be here today attending this memorable event. The Hong Kong Tuberculosis, Chest and Heart Diseases Association has an enviable record for community service. Its contributions to the fight against tuberculosis and other lung diseases have been most impressive. The Association's achievements is a fine example of the result of close partnership between the Government and voluntary organizations.

Since the establishment of the Hospital Authority, the Association has further expanded its activities in the fields of prevention of tuberculosis, health education, and health promotion. It has also recently re-developed the original Freni Memorial Convalescent Home into the Freni Care and Attention Home.

Although we expect our future elders to be healthier and live longer, the absolute number of elders who will require care will increase in future. It is our priority to provide quality long term care service for those elders who need assistance in daily living. We have already in place a full range of residential, home and community care services which cut across the medical, health and social service sectors. As pointed out by the Director of Social Welfare, we intend to continue to put in more resources this year to further enhance and expand these services. Our special challenge ahead lies in striking an optimum balance between needs and resources, and in re-engineering existing services to ensure that they are responsive, appropriate and cost-effective.

We should not lose sight of our goal in long term care, which is to improve the quality of life of our elders. Even when we cannot reverse the elders' chronic health conditions or functional dependency, there is plenty of room for innovation in aspects like helping the elders to optimise the functional ability of their body's systems, and to help them retain self-esteem and a feeling of control. We will continue to encourage the service providers to share this common goal.

More importantly, we should emphasise health promotion and disease prevention, to reduce and delay the number of people becoming functional dependent and requiring long term care. As part of the Healthy Ageing Campaign, we will develop strategies to encourage positive perceptions of ageing. We will also explore new initiatives to facilitate our elders to remain productive, active and cherished members of our community.

Apart from the Government's efforts, caring for elders requires the active participation and support of the community and voluntary organizations. The Freni Care and Attention Home is an excellent example of voluntary organizations complementing the Government's efforts in an important policy area.

I wish to congratulate the Hong Kong Tuberculosis, Chest and Heart Diseases Association on the grand opening of Freni Care and Attention Home. The Home represents another milestone in the history of the Association and demonstrates the Association's continuous commitment to society, by providing medical and social services to members of our community.

Thank you.

END/Friday, April 6, 2001

NNNN