Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ20: Public Chinese medicine clinics
Following is a question by the Hon James To and a written reply by the Secretary
for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (April 29):
Question:
The Government obtained funding approval from the Finance Committee of this
Council on June 22, 2007 for establishing five public Chinese medicine clinics (CMCs),
and expected that the relevant works will be completed in phases before the end
of March 2009. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council
whether:
(a) it knows the current progress of the above works, and when all the five CMCs
are expected to come into operation;
(b) it knows the number of attendances at and the usage rate of each public CMC
now in operation in each of the past five years;
(c) it has any further plan to establish CMCs, with a view to achieving the
original target of setting up 18 public CMCs; if so, of the sites chosen for the
new clinics and other information; and
(d) it will consider establishing CMCs in all public out-patient clinics?
Reply:
President,
The objectives of the phased establishment of 18 Chinese medicine clinics (CMCs)
by the Government are to promote the development of "evidence-based" Chinese
medicine through clinical research, systematise the knowledge base of Chinese
medicine and provide training opportunities for graduates. At present, the
services of public CMCs are being provided on a tripartite model in which the
Hospital Authority (HA) collaborates with a non-governmental organisation (NGO)
and a local university in each of the CMCs.
(a) Works for the establishment of the five public CMCs mentioned in the
question have all been completed. Their dates of opening are shown in Annex 1.
(b) The attendances of the public CMCs in the past five years are shown in the
Annex 2. As the demand for Chinese medicine services varies from district to
district, the attendances of each public CMC also vary. Regarding the usage
rate, as the senior Chinese medicine practitioners (CMPs) in the public CMCs
have to be responsible for providing training and undertaking clinical research
and as the clinical experience of the junior CMPs (who are Chinese medicine
degree course graduates receiving training in the clinics) is not alike, the
NGOs will thus set and adjust the daily consultation quota of their clinics
having regard to the situation of their clinics and the work schedule of
individual CMPs. Under such circumstances, there is no standardised consultation
quota set across the board for all CMCs to gauge their usage rate.
(c) The Government basically sets up 18 public CMCs on a district basis. To
date, 14 CMCs have been put into operation. No public CMC has yet been provided
in the Kowloon City District, Southern District, Yau Tsim Mong District and
Islands District for the time being and we are now identifying suitable sites.
(d) Chinese medicine services in Hong Kong have all along been provided
primarily by the private sector. As at March 31, 2009, there are 5,854
registered CMPs and 2,814 listed CMPs in Hong Kong, providing Chinese medicine
services in various districts. The main objective of the Government to set up
public CMCs is to promote the development of "evidence-based" Chinese medicine.
At the same time, it also serves the function of providing the recipients of
Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and the elderly with free or
reduced-fee Chinese medicine services. It is thus evident that public and
private Chinese medicine services can complement each other in meeting the
different needs of the community. As the establishment of 18 CMCs has achieved
this objective, we have no plans to establish additional CMCs in public
out-patient clinics for the time being.
Ends/Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Issued at HKT 14:16
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