TNAG-1415-FCO40-1896-Public-finance-in-Hong-Kong-1985 — Page 176

156.

With regard to the 754 claims not in order from the procedural point of view the rules of the private dental treatment scheme required officers to complete a course of treatment and make full payment to a dentist before submitting a claim for reimbursement. However, out of these 754 claims, officers in 385 cases had in fact sought reimbursement before they had paid the dentists. Officers in the remaining 369 cases had sought reimbursement before completion of the course of treatment. The Secretary for the Civil Service commented that the officers involved in such cases were almost entirely at the junior level, and that it was possible that they lacked full understanding of the rules.

157.

The Secretary for the Civil Service went on to state that he adopted a strict approach to all such cases and the officers concerned were admonished under civil service disciplinary procedures. In certain cases, where reimbursements had not yet been made, the claims were rejected. In other cases where it was found on clinical examination that treatment had not been completed, the officers concerned were being required to refund the money involved. However, the Secretary considered there was no evidence to substantiate any suggestion that the officers concerned were deliberately trying to cheat the Government although it seemed fairly certain that a small number of dentists assisted officers to complete reimbursement forms before treatment had been completed or, in a few cases, even begun. This was in contravention of the rules of the scheme, which had been drawn to dentists' attention.

158.

With regard to the 2,015 claims not fully in order from the treatment point of view, it was discovered through the clinical examinations that, in a number of cases involving complex work, certain treatment specified in the claims required the prior approval of the Director of Medical and Health Services, but that such approval had not been sought. In other cases, the clinical examinations revealed that particular items of treatment had not been satisfactorily completed. A number of errors were also found in the treatment forms which dentists were required to complete. Such errors involved, for example, claims for more fillings than were actually done, for two surface fillings when only single surface fillings were done or for more teeth on a denture than were actually present.