XN000022-1996-03-06 — Page 128

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Part (c) of the question concerns the requirement that the claimant has to pay for the hearing test under the Scheme. This requirement was drawn up as a means to prevent abuse of the hearing test arrangement, having regard to the limited audiological resources in Hong Kong. However, all claimants who have passed the hearing test conducted by the hearing test centre designated by the Board will be reimbursed the full amount of the cost and will not be required to pay for the cost of the subsequent medical examination which will be fully borne by the Board.

It is not appropriate to compare this aspect of the Scheme with the Pneumoconiosis Compensation Scheme(PCS)--another collective liability compensation scheme established by statute for persons who are diagnosed after 1 January 1981 to be suffering from pneumoconiosis. The incidence of pneumoconiosis suffered by claimants under the PCS is usually identified through a lengthy curative process. Patients have normally been suffering from chest diseases and receiving medical care for a considerable time. When their medical conditions have become stabilised, their attending physicians (usually doctors in the Government chest clinics) will be in a position to diagnose that they may have contracted pneumoconiosis and refer them to the Pneumoconiosis Medical Board (a body established for the determination of the degree of incapacity of eligible pneumoconiotics under the PCS) for consideration. In other words, these claimants have already undergone the It is therefore not necessary screening procedure during the treatment process.

necessary to require them to pay for the cost of a pulmonary function test.

As regards Part (d) of the question, an occupational requirement was required so as to establish a casual relationship between a claimant's deafness and his occupation. This is essential because the objective of the Scheme is to provide compensation for persons suffering for noise-induced deafness by reason of their employment.

The occupational requirement was set at ten years on the basis of medical advice that this time period was considered appropriate for the development of the minimum sensorineural hearing loss of 50 dB measured at 1, 2, and 3 kHz frequencies as specified under the Scheme. This was also determined with reference to the same requirement used in the United Kingdom and Singapore for their own occupational deafness compensation schemes.

In the light of its operational experience, we will conduct a review on all the various aspects of the Scheme after it has been in operation for one year.

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