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Following is the transcript of opening remarks by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, at a joint press conference held at Central Government Offices, Tamar today (July 16):
The Chief Executive has just announced that the amount of the Elderly Health Care Voucher will be doubled from the current level of $500 to $1,000 per year for every eligible elder, starting from January 1, 2013. The additional expenditure involved is around $350 million per annum.
Through the vouchers, we aim to further promote primary care services, especially preventive care services, for the elderly and encourage them to use private primary care services close to their communities, including health-care services provided by medical practitioners, Chinese medicine practitioners, dentists and other registered allied health professionals.
We plan to brief the Legislative Council on details of the enhanced Scheme in the new term and make a submission to the Finance Committee by the end of this year.
Thank you.
Ends/Monday, July 16, 2012
Issued at HKT 19:19
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