TNAG-0972-FCO40-1191-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-1980 — Page 19

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PRESS RELEASE

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Although Hong Kong can be justifiably proud of what

it has done for the 70,000 Vietnamese refugees who arrived last

year, the lessons learnt from the 1979 influx indicate that some

improvements in facilities should be made for those remaining

here awaiting resettlement in other countries.

This was the main conclusion reached following a

comprehensive in-house review of the arrangements made by the

Government for the care and maintenance of Vietnamese refugees.

The review was conducted by a group comprising Mr

Jan Lightbody, Chairman of the Public Service Commission; Profesecr

Michael Colbourne, Head of the Department of Community Medicine

at Hong Kong University; and Mr Brian Clancy, Deputy Crown Solicitor.

The group has confirmed that the arrangements made in

1979 to accommodate and look after the refugees were "appropriate

and adequate considering all the circumstances" and that, although

the facilities provided were necessarily basic, they met the--

essential requirements of health and safety.

In particular, the group considered the medical and

health care provided to the refugees to be "reasonable and the

best that could be offered without reducing services to Hong

Kong's own citizens to an unacceptable degree". Despite the

refugees' previous exposure to a hard life and the crowded living