24
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1980
MEDICAL IMPROVEMENT PLANS
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HONG KONG COULD ABANDON ANY HOPE OF ACHIEVING PLANNED IMPROVEMENTS IN MEDICAL AND HEALTH DEVELOPMENTS IF CURRENT IMMIGRATION LEVELS WERE NOT REDUCED, THE GOVERNOR SIR MURRAY MACLEHOSE, SAID IN HIS OPENING ADDRESS AT THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TODAY.
+WE WOULD MAKE VIRTUALLY NO ADVANCE ON PRESENT LEVELS AND IN CRUDE TERMS THE SHORTFALL WOULD BE FOUR MAJOR HOSPITALS, 10 STANDARD CLINICS, 520 DOCTORS AND 3 200 NURSES.+
+THIS, SAID SIR MURRAY, IS YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE SIZE OF THREAT THAT CONTINUED IMMIGRATION AT PRESENT LEVELS REPRESENTS TO STANDARDS THE POPULATION HAS DESERVED AND HAD EVERY RIGHT TO EXPECT, AND THE PROGRESSIVE STRAIN IT IS PLACING ON PUBLIC SERVICES.+
ON FUTURE PLANS, HE SAID THAT IN ADDITION TO THE 1 400- BED HOSPITAL UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT SHA TIN, OTHERS OF SIMILAR SIZE WERE PLANNED FOR COMPLETION BEFORE THE END OF THIS DECADE AT TUEN MUN AND EAST KOWLOON.
BY 1989, HE SAID, WE WOULD HAVE REACHED THE TARGET OF THE MEDICAL DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF 5.7 BEDS PER 1 000 POPULATION, AND IN CLINICS SEVEN CONSULTING ROOMS PER 100 000 POPULATION - INSTEAD OF 4.4 AND FIVE RESPECTIVELY AT PRESENT.
+THE IMPROVEMENT IN SERVICE WOULD HAVE BEEN DRAMATIC. THIS ASSUMED A NORMAL POPULATION GROWTH RATE OF ABOUT 1.5 PER CENT.
+BUT IF CURRENT IMMIGRATION LEVELS ARE NOT REDUCED, WE CAN ABANDON ANY HOPE OF ACHIEVING SUCH IMPROVEMENTS, SAID SIR MURRAY.
SIR MURRAY ANNOUNCED THAT THE SHA TIN HOSPITAL, WHICH IS EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED IN SEPTEMBER 1982, WOULD BE NAMED THE PRINCE OF WALES HOSPITAL BY AGREEMENT WITH HRH, PRINCE CHARLES. THE HOSPITAL, HE SAID WOULD BE COMPLEMENTARY TO A NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL AT THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY.
ON OTHER DEVELOPMENTS HE SAID:
*
THE SOUTH KWAI CHUNG HOSPITAL HAD BEEN COMPLETED, PROVIDING 1 300 BEDS FOR THE TREATMENT OF THE MENTALLY ILL AND THUS RELIEVING PRESSURE AT THE CASTLE PEAK HOSPITAL-
* THE SCHOOLS DENTAL CARE SERVICE WAS INITIATED LAST
MONTH WHEN THE FIRST SCHOOL DENTAL CLINIC WAS OPENED=
* THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DENTISTS HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED IN
THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY- AND,
*
THE ACCOMPANYING PRINCE PHILIP DENTAL HOSPITAL WAS BEING COMMISSIONED (+! BELIEVE THAT IT IS A SHOWPIECE BY ANY STANDARD+) AND IN A LITTLE OVER FOUR YEARS, HONG KONG WOULD SEE ITS FIRST BATCH CF LOCALLY TRAINED DENTISTS,
/SIR MURRAT
LI