TNAG-1855-FCO40-2630-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-memoranda-and-minutes-of-me-1989 — Page 189

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL —8 March 1989

香港立法局——————————一九八九年三月八日

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admit in a more comforting fashion that things have somewhat improved in the past several years.

The rather dreadful situation in our public sector medical services is, in my view, a shining example of the bureaucracy allowing the situation to deteriorate, unmindful of the possibility that, like a time bomb, it will one day explode. In my view, the gravity of the situation sufficiently warrants the immediate appointment of a special and high-powered task force to look at the problems quickly and find ways to solve them efficiently as the negotiation between the medical personnel and the Medical and Health Department does not seem to get anywhere. The task force should be composed of high level government officials representing the Administration, professional medical personnel chosen by the doctors and nurses themselves as their rightful representatives and a third element of non-civil servants and non-medical personnel with experience in administrative work, finance and labour relations. The third element will ensure greater objectivity and serve as a means of check and balance and arbitration. The chairman should be from the third element. The task force should in three months' time come up with a comprehensive long-term package for improvement, with adequate funding on the part of Government not only for medical personnel but also for the patients.

To the medical personnel who are taking or are about to take industrial action, I urge them to be patient for a little bit longer. Our unusually large population exerts constant strains on the limited resources. Camp-beds in hospitals, I believe, are there not because anyone likes to have them that way. They are there to meet a need which, even with the best of planning, cannot be wholly met. Where can most people go to if public hospitals turn them away, particularly those who are less well-off? Industrial actions will in one way or another affect the qualities of service to patients. Whatever the claim may be, this, I am sure, is not what our medical personnel intend to have. For the sake of those people who are unfortunate enough to be sick, I urge our medical personnel to stop their industrial action. The public have always respected doctors and nurses. Let us keep this respect untarnished, and not forget that all of us have the responsibility for the welfare of the patients. Let us work towards the solution of this problem rationally and peacefully without further ado.

On the other hand, Government must not procrastinate. It must act now.

鄭德健議員致辭:主席先生,本人以市民的角度,評論香港目前公立醫院醫療及衛生事務。

公立醫院的服務質素,長久以來都被抨擊。輪候街症和取藥時間過長,沒有儲存病人記錄、病 人被服供應不足、病床缺乏、睡帆布床等惡劣情況,十多年來都没有切實改善。

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