Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese Email this article news.gov.hk
LCQ20: Public Chinese medicine clinics
**************************************

     Following is a question by the Hon James To and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (April 29):

Question:

     The Government obtained funding approval from the Finance Committee of this Council on June 22, 2007 for establishing five public Chinese medicine clinics (CMCs), and expected that the relevant works will be completed in phases before the end of March 2009.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a) it knows the current progress of the above works, and when all the five CMCs are expected to come into operation;

(b) it knows the number of attendances at and the usage rate of each public CMC now in operation in each of the past five years;

(c) it has any further plan to establish CMCs, with a view to achieving the original target of setting up 18 public CMCs; if so, of the sites chosen for the new clinics and other information; and

(d) it will consider establishing CMCs in all public out-patient clinics?

Reply:

President,

     The objectives of the phased establishment of 18 Chinese medicine clinics (CMCs) by the Government are to promote the development of "evidence-based" Chinese medicine through clinical research, systematise the knowledge base of Chinese medicine and provide training opportunities for graduates.  At present, the services of public CMCs are being provided on a tripartite model in which the Hospital Authority (HA) collaborates with a non-governmental organisation (NGO) and a local university in each of the CMCs.

(a) Works for the establishment of the five public CMCs mentioned in the question have all been completed.  Their dates of opening are shown in Annex 1.

(b) The attendances of the public CMCs in the past five years are shown in the Annex 2.  As the demand for Chinese medicine services varies from district to district, the attendances of each public CMC also vary.  Regarding the usage rate, as the senior Chinese medicine practitioners (CMPs) in the public CMCs have to be responsible for providing training and undertaking clinical research and as the clinical experience of the junior CMPs (who are Chinese medicine degree course graduates receiving training in the clinics) is not alike, the NGOs will thus set and adjust the daily consultation quota of their clinics having regard to the situation of their clinics and the work schedule of individual CMPs.  Under such circumstances, there is no standardised consultation quota set across the board for all CMCs to gauge their usage rate.

(c) The Government basically sets up 18 public CMCs on a district basis.  To date, 14 CMCs have been put into operation.  No public CMC has yet been provided in the Kowloon City District, Southern District, Yau Tsim Mong District and Islands District for the time being and we are now identifying suitable sites.

(d) Chinese medicine services in Hong Kong have all along been provided primarily by the private sector.  As at March 31, 2009, there are 5,854 registered CMPs and 2,814 listed CMPs in Hong Kong, providing Chinese medicine services in various districts.  The main objective of the Government to set up public CMCs is to promote the development of "evidence-based" Chinese medicine.  At the same time, it also serves the function of providing the recipients of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and the elderly with free or reduced-fee Chinese medicine services.  It is thus evident that public and private Chinese medicine services can complement each other in meeting the different needs of the community.  As the establishment of 18 CMCs has achieved this objective, we have no plans to establish additional CMCs in public out-patient clinics for the time being.

Ends/Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Issued at HKT 14:16

NNNN

Print this page