7
Under
compensation.
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the ordinance, medical expenses are regarded as one form of The employer is not liable to pay for medical, surgical or aid in respect of an injury which does not incapacitate the employee for at least three consecutive days from earning his full wages, provided that he shall be so liable if the injury results in any permanent disability. In addition, section 10A(3) provides that employers are liable to pay for medical expenses during the time their employees are receiving medical treatment as a result of accidents arising out of and in the course of employment, for an unlimited period of time until the attending medical practitioner or registered further treatment is requireu.
dentist certifies that no .........
As specified in the Third Schedule to the ordinance, the employer's liability is limited to a maximum of $40 per day for hospital in-patients and $20 per day for out-patients. Where an employee receives both in-patient and out-patient treatment on any day, the total daily, rate he can' claim is $40. Notwithstanding these upper limits, the level of aid is adequate since the daily charge for an in-patient in a government hospital as at the end · of June 1989 is only $26 which includes accommodation, food, medicine', surgery and all other medical examination and facilities such as x-ray and laboratory tests. For an out-patient, the charge for each visit he makes to a government hospital or clinic for treatment is $13. Government subsidised hospitals and clinics charge similar rates'. Since the coming into operation of the provisions for medical expenses on .23 December 1977 under the Workmen's Compensation (Amendment) {No. 2) Ordinance 1977, no complaints about difficulties brought about by these limits have been received from any injured employee. The ordinance provides that the Legislative Council may, by resolution, amend these daily rates to meet changing circumstances so as to ensure that every injured employee will receive all medical aid at no cost to himself. Furthermore, the Director of Health may either waive or reduce the charges if an injured employee is unable to pay even such nominal expenses.
The question of the liability to pay compensation and medical expenses for injuries resulting in absence from work for three consecutive days or less was examined at length by the Working Party on the Comprehensive Review of the Workmen's Compensation Ordinance of 1978. The Working Party recommended that the three-day qualifying period should be retained for the following reasons :
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is
(a) the amount involved is very small in theory the maximum an
injured employee could claim, if he is not hospitalised, $60 for three days, but in practice it is more likely to be the cost of one or two visits to a clinic as an out-patient, i.e. at the rate of $13 per visit;
(b)
removing the qualifying of additional work for companies and the Labour justified by the compensation involved.
very
period would generate a great deal employers, employees, insurance Department, which would not be small additional amount of
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