TNAG-1606-FCO40-22121-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 127

1

2

(2) Clearly,

therefore, the Director has never had

discretion to waive in-patient expenses (which is

expenses what he did when the operation of section 8 was

suspended in 1981) either on a general or on an

individual basis.

I can summarize the position simply as follows

(a)

(b)

(c)

When the law was first enacted in 1951, although there was a liability imposed on certain insurers

or owners to pay the reasonable expenses, there

was по provision as to who

payment.

should receive

the

In 1978, it was specifically enacted that the

payments should

be made to

or the Director

his

appointed agent. Indeed, as the Director said when he introduced the amending bill into this

Council on 12th April 1978 :-

"The proposed Bill will provide for the Director of Medical and Health Services or such other

agency as he may appoint to be responsible for collecting from insurance companies expenses incurred in treating victims of traffic accidents in Government hospitals" (Hansard 1977/8 p.769)

was

Then the Director decided in 1981 not to collect

such payment for the reason that the scheme thought not to be cost-effective.

But in

making his decision

to suspend collection

of

those payments, he was clearly declining to carry out a duty imposed upon him by this Council at his own request.

Whilst this clearly shows an insufficient grasp of the importance of the rule of law by the Administration at the time,