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LCQ14: Land grant Conditions for private hospitals
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     Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hak-kan and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (November 11):

Question:

     It has been reported that in 1996 the Government granted a piece of land by way of private treaty to St. Teresa's Hospital and approved the construction of a new hospital building thereat, but requested that the Hospital should provide a certain number of low-charge beds which are of the same charges as the third-class beds in public hospitals, and such terms were added to the land lease.  Yet, the Hospital has not provided an adequate number of low-charge beds as required under the land lease all these years since the completion of its new hospital building, and the authorities have only reminded the Hospital that it had to comply with the requirement.  Regarding the provision of low-charge beds by private hospitals, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) apart from St. Teresa's Hospital, which other private hospitals were granted land by the authorities by way of private treaty for medical and health purposes since 1996; whether the authorities had requested such hospitals to provide a certain number of low-charge beds and other designated medical services, or stipulated the relevant fee levels; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(b) which government departments were responsible for drafting the relevant lease of the land granted by private treaty with St. Teresa's Hospital and signing the lease; whether they have set up any penalty mechanism; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(c) why the authorities have not requested St. Teresa's Hospital to provide an adequate number of low-charge beds under the terms of the land lease all these years; whether they have ascertained if the Hospital has violated the terms of the land lease; if the Hospital has violated the relevant terms, what follow-up actions the authorities will take (whether such actions will include the recovery of the difference in land premium from the Hospital); and

(d) given that the Chief Executive has expressed support for the development of medical services in his latest policy address and allocated four sites for the construction of private hospitals, whether the authorities will sign agreements with the private hospitals to be awarded the sites requesting them to provide certain numbers of low-charge beds and other designated medical services, as well as stipulate the relevant fee levels; how in future the authorities monitor whether the hospitals concerned have complied with the terms of the agreements?

Reply:

President,

(a) According to the record of the Lands Department, no new land has been granted to private hospitals through private treaty grant since 1996.

(b) The Conditions of Grant of the land for the development of the new wing of St. Teresa's Hospital (the Hospital) was finalised by the Lands Department after consultation with relevant Government departments, and was executed in 1996 by the District Lands Office (Kowloon East) for and on behalf of the Government and the Soeurs De Saint Paul De Chartres.  Under the Conditions of Grant, the Government can re-enter upon and take back possession of the land upon failure by the Grantee to comply with the relevant lease conditions.

(c) The Department of Health (DH) is vested with the power to regulate private hospitals under the Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Maternity Homes Registration Ordinance (Cap 165).  DH conducts regular and surprise inspections to all private hospitals.  On completion of the new wing in late 2002, the Hospital relocated the beds in the old wings to the new wing and carried out renovation on the old wings.  The Hospital planned to provide the low charge beds according to the condition of the land grant upon completion of the renovation of the old wings.  During the annual inspections at the Hospital, DH had followed up with the Hospital on the progress of the renovation and reminded the Hospital to expedite the provision of low charge beds in accordance with the condition of the land grant.  The Hospital implemented in full the provision of 100 low charge beds in October 2009.

(d) As part of the healthcare reform initiatives, the Government will actively promote the development of private hospitals.  We have reserved four sites (at Wong Chuk Hang, Tseung Kwan O, Tai Po and Lantau respectively) for the development of private hospitals.  The Government will launch an Expression of Interest exercise by end 2009 to solicit market interest in developing private hospitals in the four reserved sites. We will make appropriate land disposal arrangements and conditions in light of the market response.  As preliminary idea these conditions could include: the hospital should be commissioned within a specified number of years, the hospital should provide not less than a specified number of hospital beds and services in different specialties, the fees and charges of the hospital should be transparent for easy reference and comparison by the public. We hope that the conditions would be fair to the private hospitals and the public and at the same time could facilitate the development of the medical services industry by the private hospitals, and enhance the standards of our healthcare services to benefit the community.

Ends/Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Issued at HKT 13:40

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