XN000022-1994-12-14 — Page 73

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Government services for Hospital Authority

Following is a question by the Hon Lam Kui-chun and a written reply by the Secretary for the Treasury, Mr Donald Tsang, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

It is reported that the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) will start charging the Hospital Authority (HA) for maintenance work undertaken on ex-government hospitals. Will the Government inform this Council :

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

whether contractors in the private sector will be allowed to submit bids for such maintenance work in competition with EMSD; if not, how the Government can justify to the public that the EMSD's services are the most cost-effective;

whether the costs of all non-medical services of the HA, including the maintenance of buildings, will eventually be charged to the HA;

if the answer to (b) is in the negative, what are the non-medical services the cost of which will be charged to the HA and what are the reasons for such an arrangement; and

what is the estimated annual expenditure on maintenance work in respect of non-medical services referred to in (c) above, and how will such expenditure be met by the HA?

Answer:

In principle, the Government will charge for all the services it provides to the Hospital Authority (HA). This will give a more accurate picture of the full costs of the services provided by the HA. However, for practical reasons, we introduce the charges by stages. We are already charging the HA, for example, for laboratory services provided by the Government Laboratory, financial audit services provided by the Audit Department and vehicle maintenance services provided by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department. We intend to introduce charges for printing services and building management services next year. We shall continue to introduce charges in stages for the other services, including maintenance of buildings and electrical and mechanical systems and equipment. We have however yet to draw up specific plans for these items.