Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ6: Dental services for elderly
Following is a question by the Hon James To and a reply by the Secretary for
Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (October 19):
Question:
The present situation of poverty in Hong Kong has aroused public concern. Apart
from the problem that poor families suffer from malnutrition, hundreds of
thousands of elderly persons also suffer from serious dental problems. As
revealed in an oral health survey conducted by the Government in 2001, among the
65-year-old and above institutionalised older persons (IOPs), 76% had fewer than
20 teeth left, which was the minimum number of teeth for minimum level of
function, and 27% IOPs had no tooth at all (edentulous). It was also found that
among the 65 to 74-year old non-institutionalised older persons (NOPs), about
50% of them had fewer than 20 teeth left and 8% NOPs were edentulous. Most of
them cannot afford to pay for dental treatment, thus affecting their health and
quality of life. In this connection, will the executive authorities inform this
Council:
(a) given that a recent survey conducted by a local organisation has found that
working-poor households cannot afford to buy nutritious food, what measures the
authorities have to address this problem, and whether they will consider
providing subsistence allowances to the working poor; if they will, of the
details; if not, the reasons for that; given that community canteens have all
along been offering assistance to the persons in need, whether the authorities
will increase the amount of subsidies for providing such services; if they will,
of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) given that the Community Care Fund (CCF) announced earlier that $170 million
would be reserved in 2011-2012 for conducting a study on the feasibility of
three programmes (including the provision of dental services for the elderly
such as denture-fixing, etc.), of the amount of funding reserved for the study
on the provision of for denture-fixing service; of the maximum amount of funding
that CCF may allocate to the provision of denture-fixing service and the
estimated number of elderly persons who will benefit from such service; whether
CCF will examine the criteria for providing subsidies; when such study is
anticipated to be completed and such service provided; whether the authorities
will consider including denture-fixing service, etc. in the scope of regular
dental care services, and expanding the coverage of the "Pilot Project on
Outreach Primary Dental Care Services for the Elderly in Residential Care Homes
and Day Care Centres", with a view to providing the elderly in need with
comprehensive subsidised dental services (including denture-fixing and
tooth-filling services); and
(c) whether the authorities will reconsider the re-establishment of the
Commission on Poverty which is led by high-ranking officials; if they will, of
the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) At present, the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme
already provides cash assistance to families which cannot support themselves
financially to help them meet basic needs, including expenses on food. Besides,
the Social Welfare Department (SWD)'s short-term food assistance service
projects (the projects) can immediately and directly provide food to persons who
have difficulty coping with their food expenditure in the short term. Operators
of the projects will take into account food nutrition when providing the
services.
To continue the service and introduce improvement, such as providing more food
varieties and fresh food, the Labour and Welfare Bureau plans to seek the
approval of the Legislative Council towards the end of this year for using the
$100 million already earmarked in the Budget this year. SWD will closely monitor
the operation of this service. If necessary, the Government will further inject
$100 million to the service.
Apart from subsidising the services mentioned above, the Government also
encourages non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to provide food assistance in
different ways, including operating community canteens. The Partnership Fund for
the Disadvantaged also provides funding support for NGOs to run these services
in partnership with the business sector.
(b) The Government's oral health policy seeks to improve oral health and prevent
dental diseases through promotion and education, thereby raising public
awareness of oral health, and facilitating the development of proper oral health
habits. According to a territory-wide oral health survey conducted by the
Department of Health (DH) in 2001 in accordance with the recommendations of the
World Health Organization, the oral health status of the elderly population in
Hong Kong compared favourably to that of many developed countries. For instance,
about 9% of the non-institutionalised older persons aged between 65 and 74 were
found teethless, which was far lower than the percentage recorded in other
developed countries. DH is now conducting another territory-wide oral health
survey to keep track of the oral health status of our population.
Elderly people residing in residential care homes or receiving services in day
care centres are often prevented from accessing conventional dental care
services due to their frail physical conditions. In the light of this, the
Government has launched a pilot project, in collaboration with NGOs for a period
of three years starting from April 2011, to provide them with outreach primary
dental care and oral health care services including dental check-up, scaling,
polishing, etc. For those in need of follow-up curative treatments,
participating NGOs will provide the necessary treatments and, where necessary,
arrange to apply for dental grant under the CSSA Scheme or to provide financial
assistance to cases in need. We envisage that the pilot project can provide over
100 000 attendances benefiting some 80 000 elderly in residential care homes and
day care centres. The Government will monitor the implementation of the project
and conduct a review after accumulating experience on its operation.
The Steering Committee on the Community Care Fund has reserved $100 million for
implementing the proposed programme to provide financial assistance on dental
services (including dentures) for the elderly. The Medical Sub-committee under
it has set up a task group to devise the specifics of the programme, including
target beneficiaries, scope and level of assistance, mode of operation, etc,
with a view to initiating the programme as soon as possible to provide services
to needy elderly. The Steering Committee on the Community Care Fund will
announce details of the programme after they have been formulated.
(c) The Government attaches great importance to poverty alleviation. With the
conclusion of work of the former Commission on Poverty (CoP), the Government set
up in October 2007 the Task Force on Poverty (TFP), headed by the Secretary for
Labour and Welfare and comprising senior officials from relevant bureaux/departments,
to monitor the progress in implementing the recommendations made by the former
CoP and to co-ordinate efforts across the Government in poverty alleviation.
Most of the 53 recommendations made by CoP have been or are being implemented.
We consider the current arrangement appropriate and thus have no plan to
re-establish CoP. The Government will continue to closely monitor the poverty
situation in Hong Kong and explore new measures to help alleviate poverty.
Thank you, President.
Ends/Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Issued at HKT 14:05
NNNN