SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND
WELFARE
sir, I do not have
exact figures as to how many complaints we have received,
and I think it would probably be very difficult to produce
such statistics. But when officers of the Social Welfare
Department become aware of a problem, they do visit the
homes, and do their best to advise the operators on the
best means of dealing with the problems that have been
identified.
MR
voluntary registration
CHUNG : Sir, as regards the
scheme, would the Secretary elaborate on the various
requirements for the issue of the registration certificate?
And would there be a requirement for a home for the
elderly to invest a minimum amount of capital before a
certificate is issued?
SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND WELFARE Sir, the requirements
apply in several areas: space
standards,
that
is,
the
amount of space for each resident in the
standards; safety standards, such as fire-protection
prevention and protection measures, and So on. sir, as
regards the second part of the question, we have not
considered that particular problem. I think it would be
difficult, as these in many cases are private commercial
operations, to insist on requirements of this sort. The
object of the scheme will be to ensure that particular
are met. staff, space, safety and so on
not think it would really be proper to go into the
resident in the homes; staffing
standards
-
capitalisation of individual operations.
I do