Question No. 6
Reply by Dr. the Hon. Rudy Khoo, J.P., Ag. Director of Medical & Health Services, to Question by the Hon. Mrs. Pauline Ng in Legislative Council on 10.7.85.
Question: Could Government inform this Council whether there are
plans to provide more evening clinics in densely populated areas?
Sir,
With the movement of population to new areas, additional day
clinics will be developed in the first instance which are sufficient
for the local need in most cases. In a number of areas, where such
clinics are observed to be over-subscribed, introduction of evening
clinic sessions will be considered subject to the availability of
finance and staff resources. They are provided with the basic objective
of relieving excessive pressure on the day clinics or as the case may
be, on the accident and emergency departments.
There are now 15 Government clinics providing 44 doctor
sessions in the evening. These are divided into -
Five clinics on Hong Kong Island with 15 sessions per evening;
Six in Kowloon Region with 19 sessions; and
Four in the New Territories with 10 sessions.
The Department has monitored the utilization pattern of
Government clinics and there are now evidence that additional evening
clinic service ought to be provided in two densely populated areas,
namely Wong Tai Sin and Shatin. Plans are in hand to introduce evening
clinic sessions in Wu York Yu Clinic in Wong Tai Sin and Lek Yuen
Health Centre in Shatin, hopefully in the last quarter of this year,
subject to availability of resources.