HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL —8 March 1989
香港立法局 一九八九年三月八日
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meetings, and to write certain medical reports are not the solution. The claim that this industrial action will not harm the interests of patients cannot be true. It may be true on the surface, but the frustrations, and other side effects that derive from these apparently risk free measures will, in all probability, endanger lives and inevitably cause great inconvenience and be a disservice to the public.
Government doctors and nurses and the Administration must resume negotiations. In the interim, I appeal to government doctors and nurses, as dedicated health professionals, and as educated members of the public, to stop their industrial action. Their voices have been heard, and their actions have spoken even louder. It is time now to show their real strengths and to fulfil their responsibilities to the public. The negotiators must make serious efforts to reconcile their wishes with those which can in fact be achieved in practice. I do believe that this form of continuous confrontation is not going to cause problems to be settled more quickly. But I do know that, if it continues, it will have a very rapid negative effect on Hong Kong.
These are very difficult times in Hong Kong for most sectors, the government medical sector included, because of the brain drain and the general labour shortage. This is not the time for strike and industrial action. Instead, it is a time for working together to overcome the problems. We must all pull together and co-operate, for as they say, "a house divided cannot stand". Therefore, I appeal to those who feel frustrated for more understanding for the good of Hong Kong.
MR. TIEN: Sir, our medical services are under severe pressure at this time. Conditions in our hospitals, both government and subvented, are inadequate.
Nevertheless we should not be intimidated by threats of so-called industrial action (perhaps even strike action). We are in effect not talking about medical questions but about medical policy.
While on medical questions medical people are the professionals, on high policy questions they may be rather too self-interested for their own financial benefits.
While the Provisional Hospital Authority is currently studying these questions, Government's temporary solution involves the creation of 74 senior posts and 32 consultant posts to tackle the question of career structure, and envisages a further 5 000 beds in four years with additional support staff.
In my view, industrial action now will only make our problems worse. This is no policy, it is the negation of policy. Such trade union tactics can only be counter-productive and are contrary to the spirit of the Hippocratic oath.