TNAG-1856-FCO40-2631-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-memoranda-and-minutes-of-me-1989 — Page 197

HONG KONG

28 June 1989 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 香港立法局———————————一九八九年六月二十八日

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and group discussions on a local or district basis would be most helpful and I am sure would be most welcomed by parents.

To conclude, I wish to say that whatever we do for our children today will be reflected in the strength of our society tomorrow. We owe it to our society and to ourselves to do all that is within our power to do to improve the well- being of our children and to ensure that their needs, whether materialistically, emotionally or psychologically, are adequately provided for.

Sir, with these remarks, I support the motion.

DR. LEONG: Sir, the child of today will be the masters and the pillars of tomorrow. A healthy child will become a fit adult of the future. He is more cost productive and a much less burden to the health care budget of the community to the delight of the Financial Secretary. It is with this in mind that I would like to respond to the debate taking into consideration a few aspects of health care for the child, pointing out the current fallacies and hopefully, to make meaningful suggestions for tomorrow!

I would like to touch on school medical service, primary health care in Hong Kong and school dental care.

School medical service

The idea of an economical health care for school children appears sound. But it is here that the attraction ends and problems begin. The current school medical service is doomed even from the beginning. Perhaps, a few reasons contribute to its early fiasco.

The fundamental error is that there has never been a well-defined policy. It is unclear whether the system is intended for a health check up for developing school children or a comprehensive curative scheme. Nor is it clear whether the Administration considers this a charitable service from the participating doctors or a heavily subsidized scheme from the Government. In the case of the latter, there should be a proper appraisal of cost. In effect, Sir, while the Administration operates its own out-patient services at the cost of about $81 per visit, Government expects that for a lesser amount a service should be provided by the participating practitioners to cover a curative annual medical scheme of unlimited visits by school children.