Press Releases
Consultation period for Harvard health care report extended
The consultation period for the Harvard University Consultancy Report on Hong Kong's Health Care Financing and Delivery System, scheduled to end on 15 July, has now been extended by one month to 15 August, a spokesman for the Health and Welfare Bureau announced today (Monday).
He said the decision to extend the consultation period was made in response to requests made by different organisations to allow more time to prepare their submissions in a more comprehensive and concrete way.
These include the Legislative Council Health Services Panel, individual legislators, political parties, the Hospital Authority, provisional DBs, allied health groups and the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers.
"We hope that by extending the consultation period, members of the public will have more time to prepare their views so as to help shape the future of Hong Kong's health care system well into the 21st century," the spokesman said.
The Government published in April this year for public consultation the consultancy report on reviewing Hong Kong��s current health care system, assessing the capability of the present financing arrangements to meet future needs, and recommending some viable reform options.
Since publication, it has generated considerable amount of discussion and debate within the community. The Health and Welfare Bureau has so far received more than 320 submissions from all sectors of the society.
The spokesman said the Government would collate and analyse the comments and suggestions received, and prepare an official consultation document setting out Government's proposals. "We shall further consult the public on the preferred reform options," he added.
Comments and views can be sent either by mail to the Health Care Review Task Force, Health and Welfare Bureau, 19-20 Floors, Murray Building, Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong; by fax (2840 0467); or via e-mail (hcf1999@hwb.gcn.gov.hk) on or before 15 August 1999.
End/Monday, July 5, 1999
NNNN