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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
If the Hong Kong Government is sincere in its desire for real social progress in Hong Kong, it should introduce compulsory primary education now and not wait until 1971. It should also expand the Urban Council's scope, and have a number of Legislative Councillors elected by some form of indirect or direct process so that the public interest will be more fully represented.
Only then can we foster a sense of belonging, of common identity, of "wanting to stay on" in Hong Kong.
Another matter of vital importance to the well-being of our four million people is the need to establish a Public Provident and Insurance fund in which all residents would be encouraged to participate.
Initially, only those families earning less than $500 monthly would be permitted to join as this income level in Hong Kong is the least protected.
To go into the details of this proposal during this debate would be a long-drawn out process.
Suffice it to say that in the setting up of the Provident Fund, Government should be prepared to make a contribution in addition to that of the employer and employee.
If a participant to the Fund is the bread-winner in the family and he should die, the Fund would be required to pay out to the widow and her children either a lump sum or a monthly allowance.
A Public Provident and Insurance Scheme is one further measure to strengthen local ties and foster a sense of belonging to Hong Kong.
It is true that many other social reforms are of equal urgency. However, the setting up of a Public Provident and Insurance Scheme is a project which deserves top priority in our plans for improved social services for Hong Kong residents.
Mr. Chairman, I may have spoken today in somewhat blunt terms. I may even have hurt the sensibilities of some of our senior and conservative-minded Civil Servants. I hope they are not at this table.
But I speak without malice and only what I believe to be the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts. Yet once uttered, it will in the long run create the conditions for better understanding and closer mutual co-operation.
The colonial atmosphere that envelops Hong Kong is similar to the smell of the durian fruit in a closed room—heavy, sweet, sickly.
It is time that we open the windows and let the fresh air of political change and progress come in! (Applause).
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DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG:--Mr. Chairman, I am glad to have this opportunity to speak, though only once a year, on subjects beyond the scope of this Council. The remarks I wish to make concern our medical services and education, two items which would be much better administered if placed under the supervision of this Council so that the people of Hong Kong, through their elected representatives, can have a direct share in guiding these important departments.
Medical Services
There are several interesting phenomena to be mentioned:
(1) In private practice there are physicians who charge $100-$200 per visit and surgeons demanding operation fees in terms of thousands of dollars while on the other hand a great many practitioners work 10-12 hours a day collecting a mere $3-$5 from each of their patients. In other words, medicine in Hong Kong is truly a form of free enterprise with no restrictions, moral or otherwise, as to how high or how low the charges should be.
(2) In Government clinics a doctor regularly attends 80 up to 150 or more patients a day and in some of the New Territories clinics medical officers are on duty 32 hours continuously every two days. Patients have to wait for a long time before it is their turn to be rushed in and out of the consultation rooms for a bare few minutes—a period of time that makes it hardly possible for a doctor to give the patient proper attention. This distressing situation is also forced on many private practitioners who have to see 100-200 patients daily.
(3) Although in addition to Queen Mary Hospital we have the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon, completed not long ago and known to be the largest and perhaps the most modernly equipped general hospital in the Commonwealth, our Government hospital service to the public is still very far from satisfactory. Intending patients for specialists' clinics have to wait one to two months before they are seen and it is common for a much longer period to elapse before general surgical cases are admitted for operation.
Let me now turn to the controversial subject of shortage of doctors. While there are still people maintaining that we have more than enough doctors to cope with the demand, I feel strongly that an acute shortage of doctors is confronting us. To support my view, I quote from the Director of Medical and Health Services' Annual Report, 1966, in which he said that while there will be a considerable increase in the output of medical graduates from Hong Kong University as from 1971 (i.e. four years from now), the Colony will remain relatively short of qualified
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