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LCQ14: Private consultation services by Faculties of Medicine
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    Following is a question by Dr Hon Kwok Ka Ki and a written reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Professor Arthur K C Li, in the Legislative Council today (June 6):

Question:

     Regarding the reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower to my question at the Legislative Council meeting on April 18, this year on the provision of private consultation service by the Faculties of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, will the Government provide, in table form, this Council with the following information on the use of the income generated from the provision of private consultation service by various departments under the above Faculties of Medicine in the past five financial years:

(a) in relation to academic researches, of the names of the relevant research projects, the amounts of money involved and names of the teaching staff in charge;

(b) in relation to attending overseas seminars, of the names and venues of the seminars concerned, the amounts of subsidies, the names of the attending teaching staff, as well as whether subsidies were granted to the accompanying personnel, including family members of the teaching staff; if so, of the amounts of such subsidies; and

(c) in relation to other professional development purposes, of the relevant purposes and amounts involved?

Reply:

Madam President,

     All institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC), including the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), are autonomous statutory bodies governed by their respective ordinances. They enjoy autonomy in the management of their internal affairs and finance, including the use of income generated from the provision of private consultation service. For this reason, the Administration and the UGC do not possess information on the use of income generated from the provision of private consultation service by various departments under the Faculties of Medicine of HKU and CUHK. On the specific issues raised, the UGC has obtained information from HKU and CUHK which is set out in the ensuing paragraphs.

     Both HKU and CUHK advised that income from private consultation service is credited to the respective departmental/unit fund accounts of the Faculty of Medicine. These accounts have many different sources of income, including private donations for non-specified purposes and income from consultancies. Given that the source of income would not be identified at the time of disbursement from the departmental/unit fund accounts, HKU and CUHK are unable to distinguish between research projects, overseas seminars and professional development projects that are financed by income generated from private consultation service and those funded by other income sources. For this reason, the two universities are unable to provide detailed information on the individual research projects, overseas seminars attended and professional development projects that are funded by income generated from private consultation service.

     That said, based on the Faculty of Medicine's overall expenditure on the above-mentioned items as a percentage of the total income received by the respective department/unit fund accounts, HKU estimated that the pro-rated expenditure on research projects, attendance at overseas seminars and professional development purposes (including purchase of equipment, books and journals for departmental research, fees for attending training courses, etc.) that are funded by income generated from the provision of private consultation service in the past five years is around $115.7 million. The breakdown is set out in Annex I.

     Regarding CUHK, over $150 million of the departmental/unit income generated from the provision of private consultation service had been used for carrying out research projects, attending seminars/conferences and for other professional development purposes (including provision of professional development and training courses for staff, and purchase of equipment, books, and journals) in the past five years. Details are tabulated in Annex II.

     On attendance of overseas seminars, HKU and CUHK advised that their established policies do not allow the use of universities funds (including income from private consultation service) to support family members of staff to attend these seminars. If there is more than one staff member attending the same seminar, all members will be considered as formal attendees of the seminar rather than "accompanying personnel".

Ends/Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:56

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