Replies to LegCo questions
LC Q16: Allied health services
Following is a question by the Dr Hon Joseph Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao (in the absence of the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food), in the Legislative Council today (March 22):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the respective monthly capacities of various allied health
services in the existing hospital clusters, the number of persons awaiting such
services and the average waiting time;
(b) of the number of allied health personnel estimated to be required by the
Hospital Authority, the Department of Health and the private sector in the
coming three years; and
(c) of the respective numbers of graduates from courses on physiotherapy,
occupational therapy, radiography and biomedical engineering in the past three
years, and the expected numbers of such graduates in the coming three years; the
employment situation of such graduates in the past three years, and whether
there were any of them who were unable to engage in related work due to the lack
of vacancies for allied health personnel in the job market?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The average monthly number of attendances by Audiology Technicians (Aud),
Clinical Psychologists (CP), Dietitians (Diet), Occupational Therapists (OT),
Optometrists (Opt), Physiotherapists (PT), Podiatrists (Pod), Prosthetists and
Orthotists (P&O), and Speech Therapists (ST) in the Hospital Authority (HA) in
the first ten months in 2005-06, the number of patients on the respective
waiting lists as at the end of January 2006 and the median waiting time for new
cases booked in January 2006, broken down by hospital clusters are set out in
the Annex A. No statistics on the number of attendances and waiting time are
available for Medical Technologists, Medical Lab Technicians, Diagnostic
Radiographers and Therapeutic Radiographers, who do not provide direct patient
care.
The HA does not have readily available information on the monthly capacities of
various allied health services.
(b) The projected additional manpower requirements for allied health
professionals of the HA, Department of Health (DH) and private hospitals and
nursing homes regulated by the Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Maternity Homes
Registration Ordinance (Cap. 165) in the coming three years are given in Annex
B.
(c) The number of graduates from undergraduate programmes funded by the
University Grants Committee (UGC) in physiotherapy, occupational therapy,
radiography and biomedical engineering from 2002-03 to 2004-05 and the projected
number of such graduates from 2005-06 to 2007-08 are given in Annex C.
The percentage of full-time graduates of the above mentioned programmes in
full-time employment from the 2001-02 to 2003-04 academic years are set out in
Annex D. The UGC-funded institutions do not have information on whether the
full-time employment was related to the graduates' field of study.
Ends/Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:38
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