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'80s a working party is engaged in drawing up a report on what
our future course should be for senior secondary and tertiary education
and the balance that should be maintained between academic and technical
education. When the report is ready, which should be early in the New
Year, I will be seeking advice on both the substance of the report and on
procedures for handling it. But since it will be of such concern to the
community as a whole, at the moment it seems to me a suitable subject for a green paper before any final decision is taken.
New Medical School
I am sure that we are all delighted that planning is now beginning in earnest for the opening of a medical school in the Chinese University. Not only will Hong Kong need this extra supply of doctors in the '80s, but this
major project demonstrates the Government's confidence in the future of the Chinese University and the great part it has to play in meeting the needs for higher education in Hong Kong.
MEDICAL & HEALTH SERVICES
The main programme
There continues to be a heavy demand for medical and health services. At present the major deficiency is in the provision of hospital beds. By the end of 1976 when Princess Margaret Hospital will be in full use there will be a total of 19,000 hospital beds against an estimated requirement of 22,600. 2,700 of this shortfall is in psychiatric beds. There is also undoubted over-crowding in some clinics, and in the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary Hospitals.
The programme of improvement is as follows: in 1980 the new 1,300 -bed psychiatric wing at the Princess Margaret Hospital will meet part of the shortfall of psychiatric beds and a further 630 beds will be added in other projects within the next 8 years. The complex at Shatin will open in 1982/83 with 1,200 beds, a supporting polyclinic and a general clinic. In 1983/84 the Tuen Mun Hospital will open with 1,200 beds and a supporting polyclinic. A further four clinics, one health centre and a polyclinic, all to be completed within the next eight years, are planned for other areas of the New Territories and East Kowloon.