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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. FUNG HON-CHU asked the following question : —
Will the Chairman please inform this Council whether regular checks are made on persons engaged in the preparation and serving of food in restaurants to ascertain they possess valid certificates of inoculation against enteric fevers, as required by law? If so, what have these checks revealed?
THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES replied as follows:-
Checks are regularly made by the district health staff in the course of their visits to licensed premises, but particularly in the early summer when enteric diseases are on the increase and at other times when an occasion arises, such as an outbreak of food poisoning in the neighbourhood. No records are kept of the results of such checks, but arrangements are automatically made for all employees who require inoculation to obtain this at the nearest centre. Lists of employees who have been inoculated or vaccinated are at present kept by licensed premises, but arrangements are now being made to issue every individual food handler with a personal inoculation record card.
DR. BELL :—A supplementary, Mr. Chairman. Is that arrangement as a result of Mr. FUNG's question or was it in fact done before this question?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES:-The arrangement was made a long time ago, but we are waiting for the cards to be ready. They will be put into use very soon.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask a supplementary in regard to the issuance of personal inoculation record cards. Can I have the assurance of the Vice-Chairman that when these cards are issued and the system is in operation it will not affect the right of the employee to easily change his place of employment if he so desires? I am rather concerned that there will be too much red tape and that it might make it difficult for the employee to easily change his mode of employment.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES: -Mr. Chairman, every employee when issued with a card can call that card his own, and when he leaves a particular restaurant he can take his card along with him, so there will not be any difficulty in changing his employment from time to time.
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MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-In other words, Mr. Chairman, if an employee does lose his card after he has been inoculated, it should not be too difficult for him to have a replacement card?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES:-Yes, every effort will be made to replace the lost cards.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Thank you.
DR. A. M. S. BELL asked the following question:—
Can the Commissioner for Resettlement supply information as to the past and present number of premises in squatter areas being sub-letted or sold to unauthorized settlers for monetary consideration and who are later found to be victimized, resettlement accommodation being offered only to the initially registered occupants? In view of the acute housing shortage, does he consider this kind of practice to be in the public interest, and what steps has he taken to publicize or to stop it?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-
This question concerns the denial of resettlement to those persons who have acquired by purchase some right of occupation in a hut with a view to securing resettlement despite the fact that they are still concurrently occupying accommodation elsewhere.
When an area is cleared, only those persons resident in the huts are resettled. Some people who have accommodation elsewhere, suspecting that clearance is to take place, seek to obtain the benefits of resettlement by buying a portion of a hut in that area prior to, or even after the initial clearance survey. However, unless it is clear that these persons were living permanently in the hut with their families and have no accommodation elsewhere, they are not resettled. (There are, of course, some cases of genuine hardship, such as persons living in tenements scheduled for demolition for which demolition permits have been issued and who have bought a portion of a hut. Such cases are dealt with on their merits).
It will be evident to Members that, unless restrictions are so applied, large numbers of people, already living in accommodation elsewhere, might well wish to buy their way into huts to obtain the benefits of resettlement.
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Page 100Page 101
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Page 100.0
of 150
184
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. FUNG HON-CHU asked the following question : —
Will the Chairman please inform this Council whether regular checks are made on persons engaged in the preparation and serving of food in restaurants to ascertain
they possess valid certificates of inoculation against enteric fevers, as required by law? If so, what have these checks
revealed?
THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES replied
as follows:-
Checks are regularly made by the district health staff in the course of their visits to licensed premises, but particularly in the early summer when enteric diseases are on the increase and at other times when an occasion arises, such as an outbreak of food poisoning in the neighbourhood. No records are kept of the results of such checks, but arrange- ments are automatically made for all employees who require inoculation to obtain this at the nearest centre. Lists of employees who have been inoculated or vaccinated are at present kept by licensed premises, but arrangements are now being made to issue every individual food handler with a personal inoculation record card.
DR. BELL :—A supplementary, Mr. Chairman. Is that arrangement as a result of Mr. FUNG's question or was it in fact done before this question?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES:-The arrangement was made a long time ago, but we are waiting for the cards to be ready. They will be put into use very soon.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask a supple- mentary in regard to the issuance of personal inoculation record cards. Can I have the assurance of the Vice-Chairman that when these cards are issued and the system is in operation it will not affect the right of the employee to easily change his place of employment if he so desires? I am rather concerned that there will be too much red tape and that it might make it difficult for the employee to easily change his mode of employment.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES: -Mr. Chair- man, every employee when issued with a card can call that card his own, and when he leaves a particular restaurant he can take his card along with him, so there will not be any difficulty in changing his employment from time to time.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
185
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-In other words, Mr. Chairman, if an employee does lose his card after he has been inoculated, it should not be too difficult for him to have a replacement card?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES:-Yes, every effort will be made to replace the lost cards.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Thank you.
DR. A. M. S. BELL asked the following question:—
Can the Commissioner for Resettlement supply information as to the past and present number of premises in squatter areas being sub-letted or sold to unauthorized settlers for monetary consideration and who are later found to be victimized, resettlement accommodation being offered only to the initially registered occupants? In view of the acute housing shortage, does he consider this kind of practice to be in the public interest, and what steps has he taken to publicize or to stop it?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-
This question concerns the denial of resettlement to those persons who have acquired by purchase some right of occupation in a hut with a view to securing resettlement despite the fact that they are still concurrently occupying accommodation elsewhere.
When an area is cleared, only those persons resident in the huts are resettled. Some people who have accommodation elsewhere, suspecting that clearance is to take place, seek to obtain the benefits of resettlement by buying a portion of a hut in that area prior to, or even after the initial clearance survey. However, unless it is clear that these persons were living permanently in the hut with their families and have no accommodation elsewhere, they are not resettled. (There are, of course, some cases of genuine hardship, such as persons living in tenements scheduled for demolition for which demolition permits have been issued and who have bought a portion of a hut. Such cases are dealt with on their merits).
It will be evident to Members that, unless restrictions are so applied, large numbers of people, already living in accom- modation elsewhere, might well wish to buy their way in- to huts to obtain the benefits of resettlement.
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