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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, officiated today (February 25) at a ground-breaking ceremony for the Hospital Authority (HA)'s Hong Kong Children's Hospital (HKCH). The hospital was also officially named as Hong Kong Children's Hospital at the ceremony.
Funded by $13 billion from the Government, HKCH is scheduled to be completed in 2017 and to commence service operation by phases in 2018. Upon completion, the new hospital will raise the professional standards and enhance the quality of paediatric services of Hong Kong.
Other officiating guests accompanying the Chief Secretary at the ceremony today included the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man; HA Chairman, Professor John Leong; HA Chief Executive, Dr Leung Pak-yin; Permanent Secretary for Food and Health (Health), Mr Richard Yuen; Under Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan; Director of Architectural Services, Mr Leung Koon-kee; Dean of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, Professor Gabriel Leung; Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Professor Francis Chan; Vice Chairman of the Kowloon City District Council, Mr Pun Kwok-wah; Cluster Chief Executive of Kowloon Central Cluster, Dr Albert Lo and Chairman of HA Central Coordinating Committee in Paediatrics, Dr Li Chi-kong.
In delivering the welcome speech at the ceremony, HA Chairman Professor Leong said HKCH will be the first children's hospital in Hong Kong's public health-care system focusing mainly on tertiary services and also providing quality specialty care for complex and rare paediatric cases requiring multi-disciplinary management.
"We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Government for its continual support to public healthcare from both the policy and financial aspects. The establishment of HKCH is a good example. Our appreciation also goes to the two medical faculties, the healthcare professionals from the public and private sectors, patients groups and the non-government organisations for their invaluable contributions to the operation model, scope of service and infrastructure of the new children's hospital," Professor Leong remarked.
Professor Leong also said he hoped that in future Hong Kong would strive to strengthen the development of clinical research and innovation so that members of the public would be able to enjoy first-class medical services.
With a construction floor area of around 165 000 square metres, HKCH will consist of two towers with a total of 468 beds for in-patient and day-patient services, as well as research and training facilities. The towers will house an Integrated Rehabilitation Centre, main operating theatres, clinical laboratories, research laboratories, hospital data centre, education and training facilities, in-patient services facilities and ambulatory care services facilities. HKCH will obtain management and administrative support from Kowloon Central Cluster of HA.
The HA's paediatric services will adopt a hub-and-spoke model with HKCH serving as a tertiary referral center for complex cases, while the paediatric departments in regional hospitals will provide emergency care, secondary services (including step-down) and community paediatric care. The HA has also started working on paediatric service re-organisation, manpower planning and staff training, including the engagement of key stakeholders such as colleges, universities, NGOs and patient groups, as well as on establishing international collaboration with overseas children's hospitals.
Ends/Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:30
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