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Following is a question by the Hon Wong Kwok-kin and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (June 23):
Question:
In November 2007, the Chief Executive in Council approved the Kai Tak Outline Zoning Plan, in which 7.6 hectares of land have been reserved for the construction of a hospital. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
(a) the latest progress of the new hospital construction project, including the expected completion time; whether the relevant feasibility study has been completed; if so, of the outcome of the study; if not, the expected completion time;
(b) the scale and scope of services of the proposed new hospital, as well as the estimated percentage of the resources to be received by the new hospital in those of the Kowloon East Hospital Cluster; whether the authorities will allocate more resources to the Kowloon East Hospital Cluster for the new hospital; and
(c) the population in the district whose service demands can be met by the public healthcare services provided in Kowloon East at present; the expected average attendances of the new hospital per annum upon its completion, and how this will tie in with the service demands in the district?
Reply:
President,
(a) & (b) About seven hectares of land has been reserved for hospital development under the Kai Tak Development. The departments concerned and the Hospital Authority (HA) are undertaking studies and preliminary planning on the hospital development project. Details of the project, including the scale, service scope and facilities of the hospital are yet to be finalised at this stage. The Government will consider the project in accordance with the established mechanism.
(c) According to the Government's projections of population distribution, the population of the Kowloon East (KE) cluster will increase by about 6% to 1.03 million in 2015, as compared with 2010. Of them, 14% are aged 65 or above, 17% are youths aged 0-19, and the remaining 69% are aged 20-64.
HA will regularly review the services of the cluster having regard to the demographic changes, increase in service demand and service utilisation in the region, and will plan for the services and facilities of the cluster as necessary. To cope with the increasing service demand in the region, HA has allocated additional resources over the past few years for service improvement of the KE cluster. In 2010-11, HA has allocated an additional funding of $47.5 million for the KE cluster to open additional beds and implement a number of service improvement initiatives. These include provision of additional cataract surgeries, enhancement of clinical oncology services, and introduction of palliative care for patients with end stage renal disease etc.
On the other hand, the expansion of Tseung Kwan O Hospital will be completed in 2013. The number of inpatient beds and day beds in the Hospital will increase to 636 and 140 respectively by then. Besides, the number of consultation rooms in the specialist out-patient department will increase to 70, and the number of attendances is expected to increase to 250,000 per annum. Other services and facilities of the hospital will also be expanded accordingly to cope with the additional demand arising from the extra beds and enhanced ambulatory care services. HA will continue to closely monitor the service demand in the region and make necessary arrangements in resource allocation, so as to provide appropriate healthcare services for the residents.
Ends/Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Issued at HKT 13:00
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