HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL - 18 January 1989
香港立法局 一九八九年一月十八日
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MR. EDWARD HO: Sir, since it was revealed that not all subvented or private hospitals carried out checks on a regular basis on their medical gas supply systems, will the Government please inform this Council whether it considers that some form of legislative control should be introduced?
SECRETARY FOR HELATH AND WELFARE: Sir, after the tragedy has occurred, with the benefit of hindsight, it is easy, and also entirely appropriate of course, for us to look back on existing procedures and regard them as inadequate. But as I said in reply to an earlier supplementary, there has been no incident of this nature in the past. So prior to this incident it was not considered that the procedures adopted by the subvented and private hospitals were inadequate. But having been asked by the Director of Medical and Health Services to adopt the emergency measures which I have just described in my main answer, they have acted urgently and expeditiously to carry out those measures, and as a result they have been able to confirm that the oxygen supply in their hospitals is in good order. But obviously in considering what long-term measures we should adopt after the cause for the accident has been established, one of the possibilities we would have to consider would be legislative controls.
DR. LEONG: Sir, in the light of the fact that the aforementioned tragedy occurred in a private hospital, will the Administration inform this Council of the responsibility it has towards non-government hospitals?
SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND WELFARE: Sir, the control of private and subvented hospitals is exercised by the Director of Medial and Health Services through the registration requirement under the Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Maternity Homes Ordinance. Under this Ordinance, a registered hospital must be under the charge of a qualified medical practitioner, or a registered nurse. Registration is subject to any conditions relating to accommodation, staffing and equipment which the director may see fit to impose. Such registration has to be renewed on an annual basis, and registration may be cancelled by the director at any time in certain specified circumstances. Apart from this, there is at present no direct supervision by the Government of hospitals, other than government hospitals. But, Sir, this is not to say that they are entirely free in what they do. Private and subvented hospitals are regulated in respect of their operations by the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Antibiotics Ordinance, Dangerous Drugs Ordinance and Radiation Ordinance. They are also regulated in respect of their staffing by the Medical Registration Ordinance, Nurses Registration Ordinance, and Midwives Registration Ordinance, and in due course the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance and Regulations. So, that is the existing system,
Sir.
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