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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed today (November 2) to signify the collaboration of the Ministry of Health, Dr Cheng Yu Tung Foundation and the Hospital Authority in launching the "New Horizon in Community Health - Sponsorship Programme on Community and Primary Care Training Programme for Mainland Health care Professionals" to dovetail with the State's policy on healthcare development, and to train expertise in community medicine.
The signing ceremony, at the Hospital Authority Building, was officiated and witnessed by Mr Huang Jiefu, the Vice-Minister of Health; Mr Wang Liji, Deputy Director of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Office of Ministry of Health; Dr Cheng Yu-tung and Dr Suen Yiu-kong of Dr Cheng Yu Tung Foundation; authority chairman Mr Anthony Wu, and authority chief executive Mr Shane Solomon.
Mr Huang said President Hu Jintao, had stressed earlier at the 17th National Congress the importance of strengthening the development of community health services. "The 'New Horizon in Community Health' training programme will have a profound meaning for the realisation of the State's health plan targets. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding today symbolises a milestone of this paramount development," he said.
Dr Cheng Yu-tung said at the ceremony that the target and priority of the foundation was to support training. He believed that with further advancement of the skills and knowledge of the healthcare professionals on the Mainland, the quality of medical services would be enhanced to ensure a healthy population. It would be meaningful, he said, for the foundation to sponsor the healthcare professionals from the Mainland to attend the training programme in Hong Kong.
In his welcoming speech, authority chairman Mr Wu said, "It is our greatest honour to have the opportunity to co-operate with the Foundation. Both the Ministry of Health and the foundation have agreed to participate in the steering work of the project and this is instrumental in the injection of new elements to the project which is sure to gear it into a new era."
"Development of community healthcare is not only a global macro-trend but a major direction of the Mainland's healthcare development. The Ministry of Health has bestowed us with great honour and trust when it agreed to hand the running of the project to our Institute of Health Care. I fully believe that the project will create an interactive and complementary effect to enhance the exchange and training opportunities between healthcare professionals of the two places."
In 2006, the Ministry of Health laid down a clear direction that the future healthcare trend was to emphasise disease prevention rather than the traditional hospital-based model with special focus on development of healthcare policy management and community healthcare training.
In view of the State's policy, the Ministry of Health, Dr Cheng Yu Tung Foundation and the Hospital Authority had started discussing the content and model of the training programme with special focus on the importance of community primary healthcare, the need to develop healthcare management, and specialist training and team building. The three-component training course comprised Building of Community Primary Health, Advanced General/Family Medicine, and a major concluding seminar after completion of the training courses for trainees to make report on the progress.
The estimated subsidy by the foundation per year is $1.5 million in the form of a three-year pilot scheme. Thereafter the training course is extendable to 10 years. The first training course will be conducted in 2008.
The training course is tailor-made to meet international professional standards with special attention being paid to the particular situations on the Mainland. The Ministry of Health will be responsible for the recruitment of trainees, while the Institute of Health Care of the Hospital Authority is the base for the provision of training. The nation-wide seminar will provide valuable opportunity and platform to collect and share views, propose policies for the development and materialisation of nation-wide healthcare services.
Ends/Friday, November 2, 2007
Issued at HKT 19:25
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