Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ14: Land grant Conditions for private hospitals
Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hak-kan and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today
(November 11):
Question:
It has been reported that in 1996 the Government granted a piece of land by way
of private treaty to St. Teresa's Hospital and approved the construction of a
new hospital building thereat, but requested that the Hospital should provide a
certain number of low-charge beds which are of the same charges as the
third-class beds in public hospitals, and such terms were added to the land
lease. Yet, the Hospital has not provided an adequate number of low-charge beds
as required under the land lease all these years since the completion of its new
hospital building, and the authorities have only reminded the Hospital that it
had to comply with the requirement. Regarding the provision of low-charge beds
by private hospitals, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) apart from St. Teresa's Hospital, which other private hospitals were granted
land by the authorities by way of private treaty for medical and health purposes
since 1996; whether the authorities had requested such hospitals to provide a
certain number of low-charge beds and other designated medical services, or
stipulated the relevant fee levels; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons
for that;
(b) which government departments were responsible for drafting the relevant
lease of the land granted by private treaty with St. Teresa's Hospital and
signing the lease; whether they have set up any penalty mechanism; if so, of the
details; if not, the reasons for that;
(c) why the authorities have not requested St. Teresa's Hospital to provide an
adequate number of low-charge beds under the terms of the land lease all these
years; whether they have ascertained if the Hospital has violated the terms of
the land lease; if the Hospital has violated the relevant terms, what follow-up
actions the authorities will take (whether such actions will include the
recovery of the difference in land premium from the Hospital); and
(d) given that the Chief Executive has expressed support for the development of
medical services in his latest policy address and allocated four sites for the
construction of private hospitals, whether the authorities will sign agreements
with the private hospitals to be awarded the sites requesting them to provide
certain numbers of low-charge beds and other designated medical services, as
well as stipulate the relevant fee levels; how in future the authorities monitor
whether the hospitals concerned have complied with the terms of the agreements?
Reply:
President,
(a) According to the record of the Lands Department, no new land has been
granted to private hospitals through private treaty grant since 1996.
(b) The Conditions of Grant of the land for the development of the new wing of
St. Teresa's Hospital (the Hospital) was finalised by the Lands Department after
consultation with relevant Government departments, and was executed in 1996 by
the District Lands Office (Kowloon East) for and on behalf of the Government and
the Soeurs De Saint Paul De Chartres. Under the Conditions of Grant, the
Government can re-enter upon and take back possession of the land upon failure
by the Grantee to comply with the relevant lease conditions.
(c) The Department of Health (DH) is vested with the power to regulate private
hospitals under the Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Maternity Homes Registration
Ordinance (Cap 165). DH conducts regular and surprise inspections to all private
hospitals. On completion of the new wing in late 2002, the Hospital relocated
the beds in the old wings to the new wing and carried out renovation on the old
wings. The Hospital planned to provide the low charge beds according to the
condition of the land grant upon completion of the renovation of the old wings.
During the annual inspections at the Hospital, DH had followed up with the
Hospital on the progress of the renovation and reminded the Hospital to expedite
the provision of low charge beds in accordance with the condition of the land
grant. The Hospital implemented in full the provision of 100 low charge beds in
October 2009.
(d) As part of the healthcare reform initiatives, the Government will actively
promote the development of private hospitals. We have reserved four sites (at
Wong Chuk Hang, Tseung Kwan O, Tai Po and Lantau respectively) for the
development of private hospitals. The Government will launch an Expression of
Interest exercise by end 2009 to solicit market interest in developing private
hospitals in the four reserved sites. We will make appropriate land disposal
arrangements and conditions in light of the market response. As preliminary idea
these conditions could include: the hospital should be commissioned within a
specified number of years, the hospital should provide not less than a specified
number of hospital beds and services in different specialties, the fees and
charges of the hospital should be transparent for easy reference and comparison
by the public. We hope that the conditions would be fair to the private
hospitals and the public and at the same time could facilitate the development
of the medical services industry by the private hospitals, and enhance the
standards of our healthcare services to benefit the community.
Ends/Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Issued at HKT 13:40
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