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elements of diagnosis and treatment.

This would however be

a very significant departure from the long-standing principle

that treatment in Government hospitals is free and that

patients are charged a modest fee per day which in practice

covers only the cost of the meals provided. While I would

not rule out a move in the direction suggested by Dr. Fang,

I do not think that it would be appropriate to introduce charges

of this kind until such time as we have considered the

consultants' recommendations on the overall question of the

delivery of medical services in our hospitals.

3.

I would also like to make a specific comment on

Dr. Fang's suggestion that general outpatient clinics

should in future be operated by the College of General

Practitioners.

Doctors in private practice already make a

most valuable contribution to primary health care in Hong

Kong by complementing the general outpatient services provided

by the Government. In fact, private practitioners treat

about 75% of the patients who seek outpatient consultations

with western-trained doctors. There are however certain problems

that would arise if private doctors were to take over completely

the operation of Government outpatient clinics. The curative

role of these clinics is only one of their functions; their

role in the surveillance and control of local epidemic and

endemic diseases is at least as important. These functions

are an essential part of the Government's measures to promote

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