ENG-1989 — Page 26

A VISION OF THE FUTURE

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affected by aircraft. This year, we are starting a new programme that will cover a total of 117 aided and government schools affected by unacceptable levels of traffic noise. We aim to complete it during the early 1990s.

Education is expensive and heavily subsidised by the community. The proposals I have outlined, especially for the further expansion of the tertiary sector, inevitably mean that some other sectors will, for the time being, have to take a lower priority. In practical terms, this means slower progress in some other areas which, however desirable in themselves, have to take their place in the queue. Decisions on the right allocation of public money are never easy. But I hope that the community as a whole will agree that the proposals I have outlined are the right mix for meeting our more pressing needs within the resources available.

Some 80 per cent of those who will make up Hong Kong's workforce in the year 2000 have already completed their education. So the provision of training for those already at work is also an important priority. Many potentially useful technologies are not yet being applied in our industries. The government proposes to establish a training fund to encour- age employers to give managers the opportunity to learn about these new technologies. This fund will include contributions from various sources, including the private sector. It will provide loans to cover the cost of local extension training and overseas working attachments. I hope employers will make good use of it.

Medical and Health Services

The medical and health field is another area where, in the past, we concentrated on meeting basic needs. We achieved remarkable successes. Life expectancy in Hong Kong for both men and women is now higher than in many advanced countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Our infant mortality rates are lower than in either. Now we should raise our sights. Our new priority must be to improve the quality of service. Our public health service is heavily subsidised, and our professional medical staff are dedicated and hard-working. But our hospitals are overcrowded, and there are long queues at our clinics. We do not always provide our community with the range of services that they need. In important areas like mental health and geriatric care, our standards fall below our aspirations.

The lesson of public health services all over the world is that increased expenditure does not necessarily translate into higher standards. What is really important is the way the money is used and how well the facilities are managed. It makes no sense to have some publicly-funded hospitals overflowing and others with spare capacity. Or to have hospitals where there are camp beds in some wards and empty beds in others. The Hospital Authority, which we aim to establish by April next year, will be well placed to ensure that the money we spend on our public hospitals - $5 billion this year is used in the most effective way. By bringing government and subvented hospitals together within a single integrated system, the authority will be able to make sure that the best possible use is made of the facilities that each hospital can offer. Quality of management will be particularly important because of the size of the hospital service. By the end of next year, the authority will be responsible for more than 22 000 beds, including almost 1 000 in the first two phases of the new Tuen Mun Hospital and the Queen Mary Hospital extension.

Two other current projects should help to improve the quality of our medical services. First, a working party has been set up to review our primary health care services, and in particular to consider which of these is best carried out by the government and which by the private sector. It will report by the end of 1990. Second, the government has decided to