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Role of modern nurses stressed
The modern nurse has become a centrepiece, not only in the care of the sick, but also in a wide range of health related activities in the community, the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, said today (Saturday).
Mrs Fok, at the opening of the first Nursing Seminar organised by the Department of Health, also said the changing health needs had brought about seminal changes in the health care delivery system and the people who worked in it.
She pointed out that the Government had responded to the changing health needs by setting up a range of services, the scope of which permeates every sector of the community.
These include the Student Health Service, Women Health Centres and Elderly Health Centres.
"Perhaps nothing is more remarkable than the spectacular shift in the role played by nurses," Mrs Fok said.
"A nurse's presence is felt everywhere, from clinics to schools, from nursing homes to hospitals.
"This twenty-thousand-strong workforce has a diversity and versatility that is unmatched amongst health professionals."
The seminar was the first one organised by the Department of Health to update health care professionals, especially nurses, and the community on the expanded role of nurses in primary health care.
It aims to keep participants informed of the provision of promotive, curative, preventive, and rehabilitative services of the Department of Health.
Also speaking at the opening ceremony of the seminar, the Director of Health, Dr Margaret Chan, paid tribute to the important contribution of nurses in primary health care towards the high standard of health which Hong Kong people enjoy today.
She said the Nursing Seminar provided an opportunity for the nurses to share with participants their aspiration for "Health for All" through improved or new approaches in delivering client-oriented, quality health care.
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