25
Wednesday, October 18, 1972
SOCIAL SECURITY IN HONG KONG
The Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose, said today the first call
on the Government should be to provide free, or almost free, houses,
schools, hospitals, and welfare services, leaving for later →→
- as resources
become available the lowering of payments by those benefiting and who
are able to pay.
He made this point in the Legislative Council during his address
on Hong Kong affairs when touching on social security.
Though Hong Kong had not codified social security into a comprehensive
system, in effect an extensive system of aid based on the principle of
assistance for those in need already existed here.
"There is nothing else quite like it anywhere in the world," the
Governor said. "It is something characteristic of, and unique to Hong Kong,
something we may be proud of, and something on which we may build with
confidence."
He explained that social welfare was already being administered on
a large scale, and plans for the future were extensive.
In the field of medical services, no one need now pay more than
a small fee for treatment either at a clinic or in hospital. Fees were
already being remitted for the needy.
The educational