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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, at a media session at the Central Government Offices this (November 29) morning:
Reporter: Dr Yeoh, could you just tell us some of situations last night of how the implementation was?
Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food: Generally, I think the implementation of the emergency charges last night was quite good. Obviously, there were one or two small incidents but those are to be expected. Some of these could arise from, for instance, people forgetting to bring their money or in the case of a child who was below 12, and there was no proof that the child was the son of certain person and he was initially charged non-entitled rate which is more substantive than the $100 dollars. So these things are bound to happen. From the experiences, I think we can see how the system can be further refined and enhanced. I think certainly for the smooth implementation, a lot of the credit go to the Hospital Authority, the staff and the management. Also, I think the public have been very cooperative and very rational in accepting these charges. Obviously, there will be people who feel that we should not charge but the majority of population understands the need to charge for A&E because of a number of reasons. One is, of course, we said that we would continue to invest in the health care services. But because of the demand of the new medical technology, and the rising cost arising from the ageing population, we cannot continue to invest to the same extent that we did in the past. So there was a need for some subsidies from the fees that we charge. And we also said that from the fee restructuring, the basic principle must be to look at the affordability. So, services which are not frequently used would be targeted for charges because they are generally more affordable. Last night, many of you might have seen from the television reports, there was one elderly lady who agreed that we should charge those affordable. She said that emergency services at the hospitals had not been used very frequently. I think there has been quite a rational discussion. I think the public have been very very supportive in general and I am most appreciative to them.
Reporter: Dr Yeoh, how could you handle people who refused to pay or were unable to pay? And HA's ability to handle these...?
Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food: I think the HA managed the whole operation very well. Considering that there will always be incidents where people haven't got any money or forgot to bring money and there will be reaction from individuals don't think we should charge, the staff is under a great deal of pressure. But in terms of people forgetting to bring money to emergency departments or sufficient money, that could always happen. So we are exploring other ways of dealing with it. Hong Kong is a small place. The Hospital Authority has really got a system whereby for people who don't pay their fees on the spot or in time, there is a system of recalls in terms of chasing back the debts.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion)
End/Friday, November 29, 2002
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