ENG-1990 — Page 194

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HEALTH

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THE Department of Health and the Hospital Services Department work closely together to provide a complementary programme of preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative services. They are advised by the Medical Development Advisory Committee.

The Department of Health is the health authority and adviser to the government on all matters related to health. It operates a wide range of services to promote health and prevent diseases. These include personal health services like out-patient clinics, family health and family planning, health education and community health, territory-wide health services like tuberculosis and chest health, social hygiene, child assessment, dental health, occupational health, disease surveillance, public health and special preventive programmes, environmental health, port health, radiation health, drug addiction treatment, as well as pharmaceutical services. Through collaboration with the private sector and teaching institutions, the department strives to provide a comprehensive range of primary health care services to the local community.

The Hospital Services Department is responsible for carrying out government policies on hospital and rehabilitative services and advising the government, through the Health and Welfare Branch, on the operational implications of these policies. The department operates a range of regional, district and convalescent hospitals, specialist out-patient clinics and day hospitals, providing a comprehensive range of medical treatment and rehabilitation services to patients. Rehabilitation services are multi-disciplinary, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, prosthetic-orthotic services, psychological services, speech therapy and community nursing.

In 1987, the government decided to integrate government and government-assisted hospitals under an independent statutory Hospital Authority, with the aim of improving the quality and efficiency of public hospital services by optimising the use of resources and facilitating management reforms. The Provisional Hospital Authority was set up in October 1988 under the chairmanship of Sir S. Y. Chung. Its report with recommendations on the establishment of the Hospital Authority was submitted to government in December 1989 and published in April 1990. The Hospital Authority Bill was passed in the Legislative Council in July 1990 and the Hospital Authority was formally established on December 1, 1990. It is intended that the authority will take over the management and control of all public hospitals early in 1991.

The two departments continued to make progress on an extensive development programme which included the planning of additional public hospitals as well as additional