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are contained in the Prevention of the Spread of Infectious Diseases Regulations made under the Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance. The authority there is the Director of Medical and Health Services.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I thank the Vice-Chairman for a very interesting reply, which I accept. At the same time, I would like to see that this Council as the licensing authority for restaurants should be brought into the picture as soon as possible through its relevant Select Committee.
CHAIRMAN: Sir, I am glad to inform you that as soon as the Director of Medical and Health Services, with his usual courtesy, rang me up and told me what he proposed to do, I immediately rang up the Chairman of the relevant Select Committee and informed him of the situation, and he was glad to concur that it was a sensible step to take.
MR. SALES: We also think so, Mr. Chairman, and we congratulate the Director of Medical and Health Services. We only deplore the fact, as Mr. FUNG Hon-chu has said, that the inspectorate was perhaps not more alive to such dangers in the restaurants, for which they must be responsible.
CHAIRMAN: Sir, I was going to revert, before we finished on this subject, to the statement by Mr. FUNG Hon-chu. I was not aware, and it has never been suggested to me, that the inspectorate were in some way deficient or delinquent in the exercise of their duties, but I would certainly like to look closer into this, if it is a point which Mr. FUNG wishes to press. The second point which caught my attention, concerning the question of co-operation between the Medical and Health Department and the inspectorate, was raised by Mr. BERNACCHI. I have no cause to believe that there is any lack of effective co-operation at the present time. As you know, a large amount of the work of the inspectorate is in fact supervised by our Health Officers, who are doctors, and I have certainly no reason to suppose that co-operation does not exist effectively and efficiently. However, again I would like to look into the point.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Mr. Chairman, I have one supplementary. Was not the suggestion of voluntary closure in the case of the first restaurant made in the first place by the Medical and Health Department?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES: I believe so, Sir.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Then why was not the same order made in the case of the second restaurant?
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DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES: It may have been originally, Sir, but it required a very much longer period than 24 hours. There were some 16 cases and 4 deaths associated with this restaurant.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Thank you. I think it is a fair answer.
MR. FUNG HON-CHU asked the following question:
Will the Chairman tell us what success we have had with the Food and Hygiene Training Course from the points of view of: Response from people for whom these classes are intended? State of hygiene in restaurants as a result of this training? As the elementary Food and Hygiene Training Course has been in progress for over a year now, is it not time that we started another more comprehensive series to include a course on the interpretation of the relative Ordinances?
THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES replied as follows:
These courses were started in April 1963 with the object of imparting a basic knowledge of food hygiene and sanitation particularly to the supervisory staff of restaurants and cafés.
Up to now 26 courses have been held and these have been attended by a total of 645 persons drawn from 488 catering establishments. Each course has consisted of a series of lectures, discussions and demonstrations held over a 5-day period. The subject matter has included some explanation of the Food Regulations and By-laws of the Council, of the reasons for them and of the principles behind them.
The response from persons for whom these courses are intended has been encouraging; there are about 2,000 licensed food premises in Hong Kong and Kowloon and representatives from nearly a quarter of these have already attended the courses. Naturally we would like to see representatives from all these premises coming forward and efforts are being made to encourage the participation of those managements which have so far not made use of this opportunity.
Inspections by Senior Health Inspectors of restaurants whose staff have received training do show that the courses are
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