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Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (April 30):
Question:
Regarding the construction of public hospitals in Tin Shui Wai and North Lantau, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the details of the study on the construction of a hospital in Tin Shui Wai and the construction timetable for the hospital;
(b) whether it has reserved any land in Tin Shui Wai for the provision of a hospital; if it has, of the location; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) of the latest progress of the plan to construct a hospital in North Lantau and the construction timetable for the hospital; details of the facilities and services planned to be provided at the initial stage of the hospital's operation; and details of the public-private collaboration the authorities intend to adopt for the hospital?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a)&(b) For the medium and long term planning to better address the demand for healthcare services in Tin Shui Wai, we are planning to build a hospital in Tin Shui Wai. We are carrying out the preliminary planning work on site selection and project planning in conjunction with other Government departments and the Hospital Authority (HA). On site selection, we will select a suitable site for the proposed hospital development having regard to the relevant factors such as the planned use of land, geographical location, transportation support and development of surrounding areas, etc. We are also exploring the scope of the hospital and its specialties having regard to the local population projection and medical service demand as well as the overall provision of healthcare services in the New Territories West Cluster.
According to established procedures, following the internal vetting process by the Government, we would carry out the relevant technical assessments on the project and seek planning approval on the planned use of the site for hospital development as necessary. We would consult the Yuen Long District Council and the Legislative Council (LegCo) on the project and seek funding approval and conduct a tendering exercise afterwards. The Government and HA will expedite the planning and construction of Tin Shui Wai Hospital subject to compliance with the relevant statutory and administrative procedures.
(c) The Government has earmarked a site of about 4.9 hectares at Tung Chung in Tung Chung Areas 13 (Part), 22 and 25, North Lantau for construction of the North Lantau Hospital (NLH). The project will be implemented in two phases. We are actively conducting preparatory work for the implementation of phase one of the project. The phase one of NLH will be located in the west end of Tung Chung Area 25 (near Yat Tung Estate) with an area of about 1.9 hectares. We plan to submit an application to the Town Planning Board in July this year to re-zone Tung Chung Area 25 from "Residential (Group A)" to "Government, Institution or Community" for construction of phase one of NLH. We will at the same time apply for the re-zoning of Tung Chung Area 22 so as to prepare for the future development of phase two of NLH. Depending on the views received from the public during the planning application process, we expect that the processing of the planning application for this project will be completed in the third quarter of 2009.
In parallel with the planning application, we will invite tenders for the construction works and prepare for seeking funding approval. We plan to complete the tendering exercise and seek funding approval from the Finance Committee of this Council for phase one of the project in the fourth quarter of 2009. The estimated cost for phase one of NLH is about $2.2 billion. Taking account of the construction period of 36 months (including a slippage of six months that may be caused by various factors such as inclement weather), it is expected that phase one of NLH will be completed for commissioning of service by the end of 2012.
After the completion of phase one of NLH, the following facilities and services will be provided:
(a) in-patient services including -
(i) 80 beds for Emergency Medicine: it is planned to provide in-patient services of Emergency Medicine with specialties of Medicine, Surgery, Orthopaedics and Traumatology, etc; and
(ii) 80 beds for Extended Care: infirmary, rehabilitation and nursing care will be provided for recovering acute patients to complete the whole course of treatment;
(b) ambulatory care services including -
(i) accident and emergency department;
(ii) specialist out-patient clinics;
(iii) day rehabilitation centre; and
(iv) ambulatory surgery/day procedure centre with 20 day beds for surgeries/procedures. The initial plan for the provision of ambulatory surgeries includes general surgeries, orthopaedic surgeries and ear, nose and throat surgeries. As for day procedures, they include endoscopy, haemodialysis and cardiac function monitoring, etc.
(c) community care services including –
(i) geriatric service;
(ii) psychiatric outreaching service;
(iii) community health service;
(iv) patient resources centre;
(v) community health education; and
(vi) medical social service;
(d) diagnostic and treatment services; and
(e) support services (e.g. pharmacy, mortuary and supplies) and administrative services.
The above facilities and services will be able to meet the demand for healthcare services of the projected population of about 123,100 of Lantau Island by 2015. At the same time, to cater for the longer-term development of Lantau Island and the demand for healthcare services arising from population growth in the long run, we will also plan for the implementation of phase two of NLH on the remaining parts (with an area of about three hectares) of the reserved site and explore the feasibility of introducing public-private partnership (PPP) initiative for the development. Even if PPP arrangement is found impracticable, the Government would still develop phase two of the hospital project.
We consulted the Islands District Council (IDC) on phase one of NLH project on April 14, 2008. The project and the relevant arrangements were supported by IDC. Subject to compliance with the relevant legal and administrative procedures, the Government and HA will expedite the planning and construction of phase one of NLH as far as practicable. We will consult IDC on phase two of the project in due course.
Ends/Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Issued at HKT 15:13
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