1971 — Page 169

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

Our Government has just recently introduced a fixed fine of HK$30 for parking offenses and it is interesting to note that there is a presumption law right now in the Marine Department that a shipmaster is responsible for any litter found around his ship.

I wish to add that the minimum fine adopted in Singapore was fifty Singapore dollars, equivalent to HK$98, while our Campaign Committee asked for only HK$30. I also wish to clarify the situation in connection with the Presumption Clause. People might argue that it can be unfair to ground floor occupiers if the Presumption Clause is to be applied in every case. To relieve such apprehension I want to make it clear that the main purpose of this Clause is to enable campaign workers to have full co-operation from ground floor occupiers in trying to identify true litterbugs, be they upper floor occupiers or passers-by, a co-operation that is at present generally lacking. Furthermore, the public must realize that to successfully carry out a campaign of such magnitude, some inconveniences caused and occasionally even slight injustice done to members of the public might be proved inevitable. I however wish to assure you that every precaution will be taken to avoid such things happening.

Though I personally doubt whether the alternative measure suggested by the Legal Department will be as effective as the amendments we proposed, I do hope that the Working Group studying the Legal Department's counter-proposal will come out with a favourable conclusion so that the long overdue campaign may be mounted at an early date.

III. Shortage of Medical and Nursing Staff

At a ceremony marking the handing-over of an extension to Kowloon Hospital, the eight-storey 586-bed convalescent block, on 30th of October last year, the Director of Medical and Health Services said that it was a "milestone" for his department because it not only provided more beds for a growing population but also met "changing needs in the pattern of medical services for the community". This sounds very praiseworthy indeed, but a few weeks ago, it was reported that owing to shortage of staff only a small portion of that 9.2 million building was in actual use - 30 out of 536 beds were in use.

On reviewing the Medical and Health Department Annual Report for the last twenty-five years, I find that it honestly admits the serious problem of shortage of doctors all these years. In fact almost all medical and nursing staff in Government are over-worked, which often adversely affects the quality of the services they are providing. The Department has tried to solve the problem by recruiting doctors from Singapore but the result has been disappointing.

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Interestingly enough, in the present situation, the Medical Department has reportedly agreed to a retrograde resolution of the Medical Council of Hong Kong that in another few years' time graduates from Canadian medical schools will not be permitted to practice in this colony. It is retrograde in that we are still faced with a serious shortage of doctors and it is also short-sighted and irresponsible on the Government's part as many people here have sent their children over to Canada for medical training owing to lack of places in the Medical Faculty of the University of Hong Kong. This decision hits particularly hard those of our youth who wish to be trained as doctors at a time when American universities have not only restricted the number of our students entering any of their medical schools but raised tuition fees.

The overall shortage of doctors here is an undeniable fact. According to the World Health Organization report, the doctor/population ratios in metropolitan cities are: 1/450 New York, 1/700 London, 1/800 Tokyo, 1/900 Taipei and 1/1,050 Seoul while in Hong Kong the ratio is 1/2,200. It is also a well-known fact that the higher the living standard of a society, the better and more individualized medical care is demanded. The rapidly developing industry and commerce of Hong Kong is making it a more sophisticated community every year and it is only natural that more medical and nursing personnel are needed to provide better services.

A Medical School at The Chinese University of Hong Kong

I made this proposal over ten years ago, have repeated my appeal every year ever since and I am reiterating here again. I have presented many good reasons over and over again, such as the acute numerical shortage of doctors, a better standard through competition (in Canada, the U.S.A. and probably in the United Kingdom as well there is one medical school for every million of the population), providing equal opportunity to Chinese middle school graduates to receive medical training, etc. Last year, an official member of this Council argued that it would be cheaper to expand an existing school than to start a new one. This is hardly acceptable, for cost must not always be regarded as the first and most important item in considering certain projects, particularly educational ones. Why then was the Chinese University set up in addition to the University of Hong Kong and why are new universities still being established in the United Kingdom one after another?

Another plausible argument often used was the lack of textbooks in Chinese on western medicine. This again is not valid as the majority of textbooks now used in The Chinese University of Hong Kong are in English and prior to 1949 all leading medical schools in China were using English or other foreign textbooks and attained high enough standards.

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