Legislative Council

LC Paper No. CB(2)269/99-00

Ref : CB2/PL/HS

LegCo Panel on Health Services

Minutes of meeting
held on Thursday, 7 October 1999 at 12:00 noon
in the Chamber of the Legislative Council Building


Members Present :

Hon Michael HO Mun-ka (Chairman)
Dr Hon LEONG Che-hung, JP (Deputy Chairman)
Hon HO Sai-chu, JP
Hon Cyd HO Sau-lan
Hon CHAN Yuen-han
Hon Bernard CHAN
Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG LAU Yau-fun, JP
Hon YEUNG Yiu-chung
Dr Hon TANG Siu-tong, JP

Members Absent :

Dr Hon YEUNG Sum
Hon LAW Chi-kwong, JP

Clerk in Attendance :

Ms Doris CHAN
Chief Assistant Secretary (2) 4

Staff in Attendance :

Mrs Justina LAM
Assistant Secretary General 2

Ms Joanne MAK
Senior Assistant Secretary (2) 4
I. Election of Chairman and Deputy Chairman

Mr Michael HO Mun-ka invited nominations for the chairmanship of the Panel for the 1999-2000 session. 2. Miss CHAN Yuen-han nominated Mr Michael HO Mun-ka and Dr LEONG Che-hung seconded the nomination. Mr HO accepted the nomination.

3. Dr LEONG Che-hung took over from Mr Michael HO Mun-ka to preside over the election of the chairman of the Panel. As there were no other nominations, Dr LEONG declared Mr HO elected as chairman.

4. Mr Michael HO Mun-ka took the chair and presided over the election of the deputy chairman of the Panel for the 1999-2000 session.

5. Mr HO Sai-chu nominated Dr LEONG Che-hung and Miss CHAN Yuen-han seconded the nomination. Dr LEONG accepted the nomination. As there were no other nominations, the Chairman declared Dr LEONG elected as deputy chairman.

II. Schedule of meetings for the 1999-2000 session

6. Members agreed to hold regular meetings on the second Monday of each month at 8:30 am. Members noted that a briefing on the Chief Executive's Policy Address 1999 by the Secretary for Health and Welfare would be held on 14 October 1999 at 9 am.

III. Discussion items for next meeting

7. Members agreed to discuss the following issues at the next regular meeting to be held on 8 November 1999 at 8:30 am -

  1. Year 2000 compliance in public and private health sectors; and

  2. Control on use of health care laser systems.

Members noted that the Administration had already provided an information paper on item (b) which was issued under LC Paper No. CB(2) 2796/98-99(03) on 14 September 1999.

8. Members also suggested to discuss the issues referred to (a) and (b) below at the next regular meeting subject to readiness of the Administration to report up-to-date progress of the issues -

  1. Investigation report on the kidney dialysis incident at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital; and

  2. Implementation of the Enhanced Productivity Programme (EPP) in the Department of Health (DH) and the Hospital Authority (HA).

9. As directed by the Chairman, the Clerk would check with the Health and Welfare Bureau about the up-to-date position of the death inquiry conducted on the kidney dialysis incident and the suitable timing for its follow-up discussion. Clerk

10. The Chairman suggested that the Panel should further discuss the implementation of the EPP in the DH and the HA in November 1999. He requested the Clerk to check with the Administration to see whether it would be ready to report. Clerk

11. Members also agreed that the issues referred to (a) to (e) below should be discussed by the Panel and requested the Clerk to keep track of their development and obtain information paper from the Administration where appropriate -

  1. Environmental problems;

  2. Impact on health by the use of mobile phones and the installation of personal communication system operators' base station antennas in buildings;

  3. Implementation of the Chinese Medicine Ordinance;

  4. Provision of Chinese medicine services in the public health system; and

  5. Training of Chinese medicine undergraduates.

12. As regards item (a), Dr LEONG Che-hung noted that the Chief Executive had mentioned in his Policy Address 1999 that the Administration would put forward proposals for new waste management facilities, including waste-to-energy incinerators that met the highest environmental and health standards. He said that these proposals might be of concern to this Panel which had held joint meetings with the LegCo Panel on Environmental Affairs (EA) to discuss the treatment of clinical waste in Hong Kong. Miss CHAN Yuen-han agreed that some environmental issues were of concern to this Panel as well. The Chairman suggested that the Clerk should liaise with the Clerk to the EA Panel regarding issues which were of common concern to both Panels. Depending on the nature of the issues, joint meetings could be held, or that in some cases, copying of relevant papers to the Panel concerned might suffice. Clerk

13. Mr YEUNG Yiu-chung proposed to discuss the effect on health that might be caused by the use of mobile phones and the installation of personal communication system operators' base station antennas in buildings. The Chairman requested the Clerk to seek an information paper on the subject from the Administration first. Clerk

14. As proposed by Miss Cyd HO Sau-lan and Miss CHAN Yuen-han, the Chairman agreed that the Panel should follow up on the progress of legislation on Chinese medicine and on those issues concerning the Chinese Medicine Ordinance which remained outstanding and required to be further discussed by this Panel. The Chairman suggested and members agreed that the Administration should be asked to provide a progress report on the subject. He also instructed that members of the former Bills Committee on the Chinese Medicine Bill should be invited to join future discussions on the subject.
15. Miss Cyd HO Sau-lan would like to discuss whether Chinese medicine would be incorporated into the public health system and whether Chinese medicine services would be provided in public out-patient clinics. The Chairman requested the Clerk to obtain an information paper on the subject from the Administration first. Clerk

16. Miss Cyd HO Sau-lan asked whether in-patient service in Chinese medicine would be provided in public hospitals as the policy would affect whether Chinese medicine undergraduates would be provided with internship placements locally. The Chairman said that as the subject also fell within the policy area of the Education and Manpower Bureau, the Education Panel might need to be involved in discussing the issue. As there was no urgency, Miss HO agreed to include this issue into the list of issues to be considered by the Panel.

17. The Chairman suggested members to inform the Clerk of any other issues they proposed to be discussed by the Panel.

18. The meeting ended at 12:15 pm.



Legislative Council Secretariat
3 November 1999