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The following is issued on behalf of Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting this Wednesday (June 20) at 11am in the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. During the meeting, Members will consider a proposed resolution on re-organisation of the Government Secretariat, which is moved by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs under section 54A of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance.
In addition, Members will also debate a motion on improving public healthcare services. The motion, to be moved by Mr Chan Kam-lam, states: "That the Government intends to implement the Health Protection Scheme for addressing the issue of public healthcare financing and reforming public healthcare services; however, with population ageing and the continuous increase in demand for primary healthcare services, public healthcare services are unable to sustain quality, and the mode of service delivery also fails to develop in the direction of a 'person-centred and community-based' approach; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to comprehensively improve public healthcare services, and the relevant measures should include:
(a) to enhance the hardware facilities of public hospitals, including reviewing the demand for specialist services in the hospitals of various clusters, acquiring more medical equipment, and expediting the expansion of United Christian Hospital as well as the redevelopment of Queen Mary Hospital and Kwong Wah Hospital, so as to cope with the demand arising from changes in population structure;
(b) in response to the fact that babies born to 'doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women' seeking healthcare services in Hong Kong have led to an increasing demand for hospital services in the New Territories clusters, the authorities should allocate more resources for improving the services of maternal and child health centres as well as paediatrics;
(c) to develop public Chinese medicine services, expeditiously build public Chinese medicine out-patient clinics, increase the daily service quotas in public Chinese medicine clinics, and study introducing Chinese medicine in-patient services and conjoint Chinese medicine and Western medicine consultations;
(d) to draw up a timetable for establishing community health centres in the 18 districts of Hong Kong;
(e) to improve the existing public general out-patient services, including increasing daily consultation quotas, introducing overnight out-patient services, and setting up a 'manned' consultation booking hotline for the convenience of the elderly;
(f) to draw up planning on long-term healthcare service demand and personnel training, and adopt short-term measures to tackle the existing problem of healthcare manpower shortage;
(g) to improve public dental services, including introducing out-patient dental services for the elderly, and extending the Student Dental Service to secondary students, etc.; and
(h) to design specific services geared to the healthcare needs of different groups of people in society, including lowering the eligible age for elderly healthcare vouchers to 65 and increasing the amount of subsidy to $1,000; increase the service quotas in elderly health centres and women health centres; introduce a cervical cancer vaccination programme and a breast cancer screening programme for the suitable women; subsidize high risk groups to take fecal occult blood tests regularly for the prevention of colon cancer; speed up the updating of the types of vaccines incorporated under the Childhood Immunization Programme; and study the introduction of 'child healthcare vouchers'."
Dr Joseph Lee and Dr Leung Ka-lau will move separate amendments to Mr Chan Kam-lam's motion.
Dr Raymond Ho will move another motion on increasing land supply in Hong Kong and perfecting the land reserve system. The motion, states: "That Hong Kong is small but densely populated with the land falling short of the demand, and property prices have persistently remained at high levels; in order to resolve the problem of high property prices at root, this Council urges the Government to expeditiously increase land supply through different means, such as reclamation, rock cavern development, old district redevelopment, change of land use, land resumption and reusing former quarry sites, etc.; at the same time, the Government should also perfect the existing land reserve system to appropriately perform the function of adjusting land supply."
On other motions, Mr Tam Yiu-chung will move a proposed resolution under Article 75 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China to amend the Rules of Procedure of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on the day when the 2012-2013 session of the Council begins.
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare will move a proposed resolution under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance to resolve that the Disability Discrimination Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 5) Notice 2012, made by the Chief Executive in Council on May 8, 2012, be approved.
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare will move a proposed resolution under the Pneumoconiosis and Mesothelioma (Compensation) Ordinance to amend the Pneumoconiosis and Mesothelioma (Compensation) Ordinance (Cap. 360).
The Secretary for Development will move a proposed resolution under the Construction Industry Council Ordinance to amend the Construction Industry Council Ordinance (Cap. 587).
During the meeting, Members will also ask the Administration 20 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo website (www.legco.gov.hk). Please note that the agenda is subject to change, and the latest information about the agenda could be found in the LegCo website.
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. They may reserve seats by calling 3919 3399 during office hours. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Members of the public can also watch or listen the meeting via the web broadcast system on the LegCo website.
Ends/Monday, June 18, 2012
Issued at HKT 18:42
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