****************************************************
The Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, today (July 18) visited North District to inspect maternal and child health services and columbarium facilities in the district. He also visited the border to learn more about control measures adopted by front-line staff in limiting non-local pregnant women crossing the border to deliver in Hong Kong, as well as the quarantine and inspection of food imported from the Mainland.
Dr Ko visited the Fanling Maternal and Child Health Centre (MCHC) of the Department of Health (DH) in the morning to see for himself its daily operation. The surge of deliveries in Hong Kong by non-local pregnant women in recent years has caused tremendous pressure on the overall obstetric and child health services. The Fanling MCHC is the first to be affected. To ensure that the standard of services provided will not be affected, the Government has just completed the expansion of the Fanling MCHC in March 2012.
To better understand measures adopted by front-line staff to prevent non-local pregnant women without prior booking from crossing the border to deliver in Hong Kong, Dr Ko visited the Lok Ma Chau Control Point afterwards. At present, non-local pregnant women are required to have a Confirmation Certificate on Delivery Booking and produce it for checking by officers of the Immigration Department when they enter Hong Kong. The DH has deployed additional staff to assist immigration officers in identifying incoming non-local pregnant women and assessing their gestational age.
Dr Ko thanked officers of the Immigration Department and the DH for their contribution in strengthening interception at border control points, adding that with full co-operation from the Guangdong Provincial Government, there were signs of a decline in the number of non-local pregnant women seeking emergency deliveries through Accident and Emergency departments.
In the afternoon, Dr Ko visited the area identified for building columbarium facilities inside the Sandy Ridge Cemetery. The Government adopts all feasible measures to increase supply of public niches. The Government has been promoting the district-based columbarium development scheme and has identified 24 potential sites in 18 districts in Hong Kong for columbarium development. The undeveloped area within the Sandy Ridge Cemetery is one of the identified sites.
He then went to the Wo Hop Shek Cemetery to inspect the construction works for a new public columbarium with 43 710 niches and a Garden of Remembrance there. The new columbarium will be completed very soon to meet public demand. He also paid a visit to Gallant Garden and Tribute Garden to lay flowers for members of the Hospital Authority who died whilst fighting SARS and people who died in the hostage incident in Manila respectively.
Before visiting the columbarium facilities, Dr Ko also took the opportunity to visit the Man Kam To Food Control Office (FCO), managed by the Centre for Food Safety of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, to learn more about the quarantine and inspection of food imported from the Mainland. The FCO is mainly tasked with three aspects of work: inspecting food vehicles, conducting tests for pesticides in vegetables and veterinary drug residues in raw milk, and inspecting imported live food animals (pigs, cattle, goats and poultry), freshwater fish and live seafood.
Ends/Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:45
NNNN
