***********************************
Following is a question by the Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (November 21):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective funding provisions for and donations obtained from the community by each of the hospitals tabulated in Annex I in each of the past five years;
(b) whether the Hospital Authority has issued any guidelines on the usage of donations by hospital clusters and hospitals within their purview; and
(c) as some doctors have relayed to me that public hospitals are presently required to pass all the donations they have raised to their respective hospital clusters for reallocation, whether the Government is aware of this arrangement and whether it has assessed if the arrangement will hamper the desire of people in the community to make donations?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Hospital Authority (HA) delivers services through its seven hospital clusters. It allocates the funding provisions received from the Government to its seven hospital clusters and the Hospital Authority Head Office (HAHO). The HA allocates the provisions mainly based on the consideration of factors such as individual clusters' service demands, service development, operational needs of existing facilities, etc. Funding provisions allocated by the HA to the hospital clusters from 2003-04 to 2006-07 are set out in Annex II. Details of the total amount of donations and the five largest donations received by the HA's hospitals are set out in Annex III.
(b) The HA has issued internal guidelines and rules to all hospitals, clearly specifying that all hospitals must ensure that all donations received are utilised in strict accordance with the instruction and intention of their donors. In cases where the donors have not given any written instruction on the use of their donations, the donations will be used to subsidise the day-to-day operation of the hospitals. The deployment of donations is subject to scrutiny by the HA's in-house and external auditors to ensure that they are used in accordance with the instruction of the donors and the procedures are also in compliance with the HA's guidelines and rules.
(c) The HA fully takes into account the instruction and intention of the donors in its deployment of donated funds. Unless the donors clearly specify that their donations are to be given to the HAHO or other specific cluster/ hospital, there is no need for a hospital to submit the donations it receives to the HAHO or its hospital cluster for re-allocation.
Ends/Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Issued at HKT 14:52
NNNN
