TNAG-1362-FCO40-1808-Hong-Kong-Hansard-reports-and-minutes-of-the-meetings-of-the-1985 — Page 172

3

-

public health, and in my view and that of the Director of

Medical and Health Services, it would not be appropriate for

the Government to absolve itself completely from these

responsibilities.

4.

S

I

Dr. HO Kam-fai expressed his concern about the

housing problems of the elderly, in particular those who live

in boarding houses in sub-standard private tenement blocks in

the older urban districts the so-called "caged men".

agree that the most satisfactory long term solution of this

problem is the rehousing of these unfortunate people in public

housing or in the various other types of accommodation provided

for the elderly, but clearly we are not going to be able to

achieve this aim immediately and I think we should see what

can be done in the interim to improve conditions in these

boarding houses. I have therefore set up an inter-departmental

working group to look into the problem which I hope will come

up with some proposals for improvements.

5.

Sir, in this Chamber on 4 October last year you

announced that the Director of Social Welfare had been made

responsible for planning to meet the shortfalls in the various

types of group accommodation for the elderly, and for ensuring

that a proper integration of facilities is achieved. I would

like to take this opportunity to say something about the present

arrangements and our future plans in this field.

/At.