Issued by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Information Services
Garden Road, 5th-8th Floors, Murray Building, Hong Kong. Tel: 2842 8777
Saturday, January 3, 1998 CONTENTS ======== 1. CS's transcript 2. Fourth round of retired leaders to visit Hong Kong 3. H5N1 infected boy located 4. Update on avian flu 5. Appointment of new Chairman of Vocational Training Council 6. Eight Social Workers Registration Board members elected 1. CS's transcript *************** Following is the transcript of the media session given by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Anson Chan, after attending a Housing Authority ceremony this (Saturday) afternoon: Reporter: Mrs Chan, could you tell me what the next step the government is going to take to help...? Mrs Chan: The first task is that we have destroyed a well over one and a half million chickens. We have also taken specimens from other types of poultry, for examples ducks, geese, quails and pigeons, to see whether this virus exists in these poultry. And if so, we would consider what the appropriate action should be. I want to stress that in the absence of experience in tackling this type of virus, particularly as it has not been experienced in any other country, the government must take a responsible attitude and that is to make decisive action when developments indicate that this is necessary, but not to take precipitated action which will in any way adds to the anxiety of the population at large. And this is what we have been trying to do all along. At the same time, we are discussing with the mainland authorities the establishment of the system that will ensure that as and when we agree to resume importation of poultry from China that there is in place a system that will ensure that all poultry imported into Hong Kong will be free of this virus. We are receiving very good co-operation from mainland authorities and I am hopeful that in a short while we will be able to devise such a scheme. As you also know, with the help of international experts and with the participation of the Director of Health, this team of experts will also be going into mainland to see for themselves the situation on the ground. Reporter:... criticism has been... government's handling of the crisis...what will change when the government approaches to tackle this criticism? Mrs Chan: I think the community at large believes that the action that the government has taken to destroy all chickens is the appropriate action in the light of developments and in the absence of experience, and also with very very limited resources. We do not pretend that the whole operation has gone on one hundred per cent smoothly and as usual with such a big operation, we will be reviewing the procedures and the actions that we have taken to see in what way we can improve co-ordination and improve communication between different government departments. But I do want to stress that in the current circumstances, given that we have destroyed well over one and a half million chickens within a matter of a few days, our colleagues in various departments have worked extremely hard and I am sure the community will be aware of the great efforts they have put into this whole exercise. End 2. Fourth round of retired leaders to visit Hong Kong ************************************************** The fourth round of retired national leaders will visit Hong Kong shortly, an SAR government spokesman said today (Saturday). The leader coming this time is Mr Yang Shangkun, former president of the PRC. The Central People's Government is responsible for organising and arranging the visits of retired national leaders to Hong Kong. The SAR Government will assist in arranging some visit programmes for this batch. As before, the retired leader is on private visit and hence his itinerary will not be announced. End 3. H5N1 infected boy located ************************* The Department of Health announced early today (Saturday) that the Department had successfully traced the 3-year-old boy involved in the 15th confirmed case of H5N1 infection. "The boy was found to be in satisfactory condition," a department spokesman said. "However, on the advice of department medical staff, the boy has now been admitted into Princess Margaret Hospital for treatment and observation." Information gathered so far indicated that the boy had gone to the vicinity of local poultry market stalls on a number of occasions a few days before the onset of his illness on December 28, 1997, the spokesman added. End 4. Update on avian flu ******************* A spokesman for the Department of Health (DH) said that there were no new cases of influenza A (H5N1) today (Saturday). However, a suspected case (Case 3 on yesterday's suspected case list involving a 19-year-old female) had been classified as confirmed case. This brings the total number of cases to 16 confirmed cases and five suspected cases. Staff of DH have been able to contact the three-year- old boy whose case was confirmed yesterday (Case 15). The boy attended a DH's general out-patient clinic on December 29, 1997. He is now under observation in Princess Margaret Hospital and in satisfactory condition. In the meantime, DH announced that the service of the 14 special centres set up for poultry workers and traders to obtain health checks and tests would be extended for one more week. These centres would be open from 6 pm to 10 pm between January 5 to January 10, 1998. As at yesterday, some 1,630 persons made use of these centres. Following is a list of the cases and their latest conditions: Confirmed cases *************** Case 1 Sex / Age: Male / 3 yr Condition: Died Case 2 Sex / Age: Male / 2 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 3 Sex / Age: Female / 13 yr Condition: Died Case 4 Sex / Age: Male / 54 yr Condition: Died Case 5 Sex / Age: Female / 5 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 6 Sex / Age: Male / 37 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 7 Sex / Age: Female / 24 yr Condition: Under treatment, condition critical Case 8 Sex / Age: Male / 2 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 9 Sex / Age: Male / 4 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 10 Sex / Age: Male / 1 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 11 Sex / Age: Female / 3 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 12 Sex / Age: Female / 60 yr Condition: Died Case 13 Sex / Age: Female / 25 yr Condition: Under treatment, condition critical Case 14 Sex / Age: Female / 14 yr Condition: Under treatment, condition satisfactory Case 15 Sex / Age: Male / 3 yr Condition: Under observation, condition satisfactory Case 16 Sex / Age: Female / 19 yr Condition: Under treatment, condition critical Suspected cases *************** Case 1 Sex / Age: Female / 3 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 2 Sex / Age: Male / 6 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 3 Sex / Age: Male / 3 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 4 Sex / Age: Male / 7 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 5 Sex / Age: Male / 72 yr Condition: Under treatment, condition stable End 5. Appointment of new Chairman of Vocational Training Council ********************************************************** The Government announced today (Saturday) the appointment of Mr Yeung Kai-yin as the new Chairman of the Vocational Training Council (VTC). The chairmanship of the Council has been vacant since the former Chairman, Dr Samuel P W Wong, passed away in June, 1997. Mr Yeung is the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation. He was a civil servant for over 30 years, and held a variety of senior posts including Secretary for the Treasury, Secretary for Education and Manpower, and Secretary for Transport. Upon retirement from the civil service, he joined the private sector. The Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Joseph W P Wong, welcomed the appointment. He said: "The Vocational Training Council is undergoing reforms with the aim of making it more responsive to the changing needs of the economy and the increasing demands of the service sector. Mr Yeung's proven accomplishments in the public and private sectors will be particularly useful to lead the VTC into a new era." The Government also announced the reappointment of the current Deputy Chairman of the VTC, Dr Ng Tat-lun. Dr Ng was appointed to the VTC in January, 1994 and assumed the deputy chairmanship a year later. Both the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman have been appointed from January 1, 1998 to December 31, 1999. The Government also announced that all serving non- official members of the VTC (other than Dr Law Song-seng, from Singapore, who was appointed from December 12, 1997 to December 31, 1999) will have their present terms of office extended until June 30, 1998. They are: Professor J Barrett Professor Y C Cheng Dr Lily Chiang Mr William R Donald Ms Li Fung-ying Dr the Hon Raymond Ho Professor Joseph Lai Ki-leuk Mr Ronald Lau Yiu-fai Mr T Brian Stevenson The Hon Tam Yiu-chung Mr Larry Tchou Professor Joshua Wong Mr Yeung Kwok-keung The Hon Howard Young "The membership of the VTC after June 30, 1998 will be considered further by the Government, in consultation with Mr Yeung, after he has had time to examine the decision-making structure of the VTC and the relationship between the Council and the training boards and general committees," Mr Wong said. The VTC was set up in 1982 to advise the Government on measures to ensure a comprehensive system of technical education and vocational training suited to Hong Kong's development needs. It currently runs two technical colleges, seven technical institutes, 24 industrial training centres and three skills centres for persons with a disability, as well as the statutory apprenticeship scheme. It has an enrolment of some 110,000 students, both full-time and part-time. End 6. Eight Social Workers Registration Board members elected ******************************************************* Eight social workers from various organisations were selected as members of the Social Workers Registration Board when its Initial Board held an election this (Saturday) afternoon. A total of 1,543 registered social workers cast their vote but only 1,471 ballots were found valid. The eight elected members are: (1) Dr LAW Chi-kwong (University of (1,176 votes) Hong Kong) (2) Mrs Justina (Boys' & Girls' Clubs ( 833 votes) LEUNG NGAI Mou-yin Association of Hong Kong) (3) Ms Sandra (Hong Kong Council of ( 814 votes) WONG King-yee social Service) (4) Mr MAK Hoi-wah (City University ( 812 votes) of Hong Kong) (5) Mr WOO Leung-hee (St James' Settlement)( 700 votes) (6) Miss Ophelia (Social Welfare ( 603 votes) CHAN Chiu-ling Department) (7) Mr Paul (Hong Kong Federation ( 599 votes) CHAN Kam-cheung of Youth Groups) (8) Miss Joyce (Caritas - Hong Kong) ( 546 votes) CHAN Sau-han The Social Workers Registration Board shall comprise 15 members, of whom eight shall be elected, six shall be appointed and one shall be the Director of Social Welfare. It is responsible for setting registration eligibility, maintaining a register, formulating a 'code of practice' for the profession and exercising disciplinary control of registered social workers. Today's vote counting was witnessed by the Initial Board's chairperson Mrs Patricia CHU, deputy chairperson Mr Hui Yi-fat, and members Professer Grace TANG and Mr NG Shu-lai. End
