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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MOTION.
CHAIRMAN:-Ladies and gentlemen, the meeting is called to order. The debate on the Statement of Aims for 1970, which was adjourned from yesterday's meeting will now resume. The first speaker this afternoon is Dr. HUANG.
DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG:-Mr. Chairman, as a doctor I intend to comment in detail on medical affairs only. Before doing so, however, I should like to subscribe to the following points:
(1) The early implementation of local government reforms promised us by Government years ago.
(2) Elected representation on the Legislative and Executive Councils so that Hong Kong may more nearly approach the democratic society it is often claimed to be.
(3) The adoption of Chinese as one of the official languages, a much belated step for the benefit of this predominantly Chinese community.
(4) The early installation of an ombudsman, a post demanded by all community leaders and opposed only by Government officials and their allies.
(5) The introduction of a social security scheme (a project on which Singapore spends over 30% of its budget) in lieu of the out-dated Public Assistance Programme. The working classes of Hong Kong deserve a greater share in the prosperity to which they contribute no small part.
(6) The early commencement of construction of subways as recommended by the Mass Transport Report 1968.
In order to finance items 5 and 6 one third of our reserve in the United Kingdom amounting to 1,500 million Hong Kong dollars can be withdrawn and if necessary Government bonds may be issued.
It seems most unfair that our Government in order to attract overseas capital publicizes Hong Kong as secure and stable on the one hand and invests its own money abroad on the other.
According to a report published by the World Health Organization this year the ratio of doctors to population in some large cities in the Far East are as follows. In Tokyo there is one doctor for every 730 persons, in Taipei one for every 970, in Seoul one for every 1,070, while in Hong Kong the ratio is one doctor for every 2,200. In other words Tokyo has three times as much as Hong Kong and Taipei has double the number we have. These figures whose authenticity is beyond challenge, light up our shocking shortage of doctors.
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Disputing my repeated suggestion to set up more medical schools, a local medical association recently advanced the opinion that a shortage of doctors exists only in the Government service and even went as far as to assert that among private doctors there is a shortage of patients. With this statement I disagree for the following reasons.
(1) In Government Services. Each annual report of the Medical and Health Department for the last 21 years admits that shortage of doctors is a grave problem. What dismays me is that after 21 years this same old problem is still with us, and there is yet no solution in sight.
On occasion the Medical and Health Department feeds the public with misleading information. For instance, on April 1st, 1969 it alleged that there were 89 vacancies in the Medical Department, whereas, according to the report published last month, by a special committee appointed by the Governor to study this problem, there was in March this year an actual shortage of 254 medical doctors in Government service. In other words every two doctors in our Government Medical Department are doing three doctors' job.
As a result of this grave shortage it is not uncommon to see patients in emergency situations having to wait for hours in the casualty rooms of Government hospitals before they are attended to. Apart from this, they, together with most of the out-patients in Government clinics, often have to put up with the ill temper of overworked and exhausted doctors or their assistants.
Last year, in an endeavour to tackle this problem, the Medical Department adopted a policy whereby a 17% bonus gratuity is given to a doctor on completion of a three-year contract. This policy, as I predicted beforehand, proved to be a failure. The Department also tried to engage doctors from overseas, especially Singapore only to meet with disappointment.
In my opinion this problem should be solved locally and we should not depend on recruiting from other countries.
(2) Private Practice. It is undeniable that there are far fewer qualified doctors in Hong Kong in proportion to population when compared with other relatively advanced cities in the Far East, where Chinese herbalists also exist in considerable numbers. The claim that there is a shortage of patients among private doctors only indicates that the medical profession here has failed to convince the public of the advantages of scientific medicine over herbal treatment and that the
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