Issued by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Information Services
Garden Road, 5th-8th Floors, Murray Building, Hong Kong. Tel: 2842 8777
Friday, October 10, 1997 CONTENTS ======== 1. Commitment to improve health & welfare services reaffirmed 2. Crackdown on alterations to facilities for disabled 3. Civic education to foster stronger sense of belonging 4. Sex and AIDS Education Expo 97 to be launched 1. Commitment to improve health & welfare services reaffirmed ********************************************************* The Government is committed to upgrading welfare services and to protect and improve the health of the community, the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, said today (Friday). Speaking at a press conference to explain various new commitments and strategies in the health and welfare portfolio, Mrs Fok reiterated the Government's objective of providing a sense of security, belonging and worthiness to the elderly members of our community. Noting that Comprehensive Social Security Allowance (CSSA) has become a major source of income of some single elderly persons, Mrs Fok said that additional assistance under the Scheme will be provided to this particular group so as to help them to live a more socially active life after retirement. "As from April 1, 1998, we will combine the annual Chinese New Year Grant and the Social and Recreational Activities Grant under the CSSA Scheme and make them available on a monthly basis. "Taken together, this will increase the standard payment by $380 per month which will be adjusted each year to take account of inflation." With this additional allowance and adding together the rent allowance, the average monthly payment for single elderly recipients will range from $3,000 to $3,400 and that for elderly couples will be about $6,000. A range of new services will also be developed to assist families to care for their older members. These include : * the establishment of 18 visiting health teams and 18 elderly health centres in the next two years; * the setting up of 15 additional home help teams in 1998-99 ; and * the setting up of two Carer's Support and Resource Centres in 1998-99. On residential care service, Mrs Fok pointed out that more than 7,000 residential care home places will be provided between 1998-2002; a new Dementia Supplement will be provided for subvented residential care homes and a comprehensive review of the demand for residential care services will be conducted by the Elderly Commission. On housing for the elderly, Mrs Fok expressed gratitude to the Housing Authority for providing 30,000 additional public rental flats by 2001-02 for allocation to the elderly, and said that a new Senior Citizen Residence Scheme in collaboration with the Housing Society will be introduced to construct flats to be leased for life to the elderly in urban areas. Mrs Fok emphasised that the Government had not ignored other welfare services. As regards rehabilitation, major items of improvements in 1998-99 will include : * six additional aftercare workers to look after ex-mental patients discharged from halfway houses; * 204 additional pre-school places; and * 156 training places in a new skills centre in Kowloon. "We will also conduct a comprehensive review of the demand for different types of rehabilitation services and support next year in order to plan for the next five years," she said. Young people remain a major area of concern with the focus in the coming year being on young offenders and young people who are at risk, Mrs Fok said. Apart form the extension of the Community Service Order Scheme and the operation of the current pilot Community Support Service Scheme which will be put on a permanent basis, new service modes are being explored to meet the changing needs of young people. These include two pilot mobile teams to help night-drifters, as well as a screening tool to help identify at an early stage students who might be at risk. Turning to the health side, the Secretary stressed that the goal of protecting and improving the health of the community would be achieved by: * preventing disease and promoting health; * treating disease; and * improving the quality of services in our clinics and hospitals. "We will continue to examine various options, to ensure the efficient use of resources, which will enable us to provide high quality service to meet the needs of the community," she said. Highlighting some of the areas of public concern, Mrs Fok said that an additional 754 hospital beds and 40 day places will come on stream in 1998 while an additional 3,700 hospital beds will be opened over the next five years. "This programme will increase the Hospital Authority's bed complement to nearly 30,000," she said. Stressing that active promotion of primary health care services would continue to be one of her Bureau's most important tasks, Mrs Fok said that the general out- patient service would be strengthened to cope with the increase of population and the rising demand. In this regard, the Kowloon Bay Primary Health Care Centre will be completed by the end of next year and three new clinics will be set up in the New Territories over the next five years. To take care of the health of the elderly, 18 Elderly Health Centres and 18 Visiting Health Teams would be set up to provide integrated health services, including preventive, curative, support and educational services to help them enjoy a healthy life-style. On Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Mrs Fok noted that legislation would be introduced in the 1998/99 legislative session to establish a legal framework to assess and monitor the professional qualifications of the TCM practitioners and their standard of practice, and to give professional recognition. She also said that a comprehensive review of the existing health care system would be carried out to address the problem of escalating medical costs and to improve overall efficiency and effectiveness of the system. End 2. Crackdown on alterations to facilities for disabled *************************************************** The Buildings Department is conducting a series of inspections to crack down on alterations of facilities provided for disabled persons in commercial buildings. The move follows a survey by a charitable organisation last November which found 10 blatant cases of hampering accessibility to public areas by the disabled in commercial buildings. "In the first case, we issued a letter yesterday requiring the owner of a Yen Chow Street building to reinstate facilities for disabled persons which have been either removed, altered or misused," a spokesman for the department said today (Friday). "Our inspectors found that the handrails of the ramps leading to shops and lifts on the ground floor had been removed," the spokesman said. "The ramp access to the lifts on the first floor was blocked by temporary stage structure and no proper handrails were provided," he said. "On the second and third floors, the access area to toilet cubicles were enclosed for private use while the cubicles were locked up for storage purposes," he said. "We have asked the owner to complete the reinstatement works in accordance with approved building plans before January 1, 1998," the spokesman said, adding that a statutory order would be issued shortly under the Buildings Ordinance. He pointed out that plans must be submitted by an authorised person for the Building Authority's approval before any alteration or addition works could start in an existing building. He stressed that it was a criminal offence to carry out unauthorised building works and to fail to comply with a statutory order. The maximum penalty for carrying out unauthorised building works is two years' imprisonment and a fine of $100,000. "The maximum penalty for failing to comply with a statutory order is one year's imprisonment and a fine of $50,000. End 3. Civic education to foster stronger sense of belonging ***************************************************** The growing civic awareness of Hong Kong people is indicative of the effectiveness of the Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education (CPCE), the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr David Lan, said today (Friday) while praising the committee for its good work over the years. Mr Lan was speaking at the opening ceremony for a new round of civic education roving exhibitions at Dragon Centre, Sham Shui Po, which adopts the theme of "Hong Kong is my home". He noted that this theme was in line with the pledge in the Chief Executive's 1997 Policy Address to strengthen civic education and to foster a stronger sense of belonging to Hong Kong. He said the ultimate aim of civic education is to turn members of the public into good citizens. Mr Lan also took the opportunity to call on all eligible voters to register for the first Legislative Council election after Hong Kong's return to China. "The voter registration exercise will start by the end of the year. Now I would like to appeal to you all to register as voters and to cast your votes during the election," he said. Also speaking at the opening ceremony, the chairman of CPCE, Mr Moses Cheng, praised the comprehensiveness of the materials shown in the exhibition and described them as very informative on various subjects it covered. He said the exhibits featured Hong Kong's successes, its status as a Special Administrative Region of China and a cosmopolitan city. Three sets of panels featuring pictorial illustrations on good citizenship and concern for China, understanding the Basic Law and respect for human rights are shown. Sham Shui Po is the first stop for the roving exhibition. Thereafter, the exhibition will move to the other 17 districts throughout the territory on Fridays to Sundays till March next year. At the ceremony, artiste Mr Daniel Chan Hiu-tung was appointed Ambassador for Civic Education at the opening ceremony. He will be participating in other promotional activities on civic education to drive home the message to young people. End 4. Sex and AIDS Education Expo 97 to be launched ********************************************* A three-day Sex and AIDS Education Expo will be held from October 17 (Friday) to October 19 (Sunday) at the Special Exhibition Hall of the Hong Kong Science Museum, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon. Jointly organised by the Hong Kong Sex Education Association and the Committee on Education and Publicity on AIDS of the Hong Kong Advisory Council on AIDS, the Expo will comprise fora, symposia, dramas, workshops, exhibitions and cultural events. Its main objectives are to promote and share the experience on sex and AIDS education; and to co-ordinate and collaborate efforts in enhancing the development of innovative and quality sex and AIDS education activities. The opening ceremony will be officiated by a member of the Provisional Legislative Council, Dr C H Leong. Other officiating guests include the Chairman of Hong Kong Sex Education Association, Mr Li Man-chiu; Chairman of the Hong Kong Advisory Council on AIDS, Dr Conrad Lam; Chairman of the Organising Committee, Ms Carlye Tsui and the Deputy Director of Health, Dr P Y Lam. End
