Minutes of the 17Th Meeting of the Community Affairs Committee of Sham Shui Po District Council (5Th Term)
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(Translation) Minutes of the 17th Meeting of the Community Affairs Committee of Sham Shui Po District Council (5th Term) Date: 20 September 2018 (Thursday) Time: 9:30 a.m. Venue: Conference Room, Sham Shui Po District Council Present Chairman Mr LEE Wing-man Members Mr CHAN Kwok-wai (Arrived at 9:54 a.m.) Ms CHAN Wing-yan, Joephy (Arrived at 9:50 a.m.) Mr CHENG Wing-shun, Vincent, MH (Arrived at 9:45 a.m., left at 10:43 a.m.) Mr CHEUNG Wing-sum, Ambrose, BBS, MH, JP (Arrived at 10:10 a.m.) Ms CHOW Wing-heng, Zoé (Left at 10:40 a.m.) Mr CHUM Tak-shing (Arrived at 10:35 a.m., left at 11:05 a.m.) Mr HO Kai-ming, Kalvin Mr KONG Kwai-sang (Arrived at 9:50 a.m.) Mr LAM Ka-fai, Aaron, BBS, JP Ms LAU Pui-yuk Mr LEE Tsz-king, Dominic (Arrived at 10:10 a.m.) Mr LEUNG Man-kwong Ms NG Mei, Carman (Arrived at 10:00 a.m., left at 11:00 a.m.) Ms NG Yuet-lan Mr TAM Kwok-kiu, MH, JP (Left at 11:05 a.m.) Mr WAI Woon-nam Mr YAN Kai-wing Co-opted Members Ms LAM Po-yu Mr LI Kam-kuen Mr TSANG Tsz-ming In Attendance Miss MAN Ka-wing, Kelly Assistant District Officer (Sham Shui Po) 1 Ms CHAN Tsz-yee, Emily Senior Liaison Officer 1, Sham Shui Po District Office Ms FUNG Ho-yin Community Relations Officer, Kowloon West Regional Office, - 2 - Action by Independent Commission Against Corruption Ms TING Wai, Catherine Acting Housing Manager (Kowloon West and Sai Kung 8), Housing Department Mr HO Wai-lun Neighbourhood Police Coordinator, Police Community Relations Office, Sham Shui Po District, Hong Kong Police Force Ms LO Ying-yue, Anna Senior School Development Officer (Sham Shui Po) 1, Education Bureau Ms LEUNG Wai-ling, Betty Assistant District Social Welfare Officer (Sham Shui Po) 2, Social Welfare Department Ms HO Wing-sze, Marianna Senior Manager (Kowloon West/Cultural Services), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Ms LAU Siu-mui, Lily Manager (Kowloon West) Marketing, Programme and District Activities, Leisure and Cultural Services Department Mr YEUNG Chi-kuen, Roy Assistant District Leisure Manager (Sham Shui Po) District Support, Leisure and Cultural Services Department Miss CHAN Wai-yam, Eunice Senior Librarian (Sham Shui Po), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Dr CHUNG Hiu-wah, Jennifer Medical and Health Officer (Community Liaison) 2, Department of Health Secretary Miss NG Ka-fu, Kathy Executive Officer (District Council) 2, Sham Shui Po District Office Absent with Apologies Member Mr LEUNG Yau-fong Absent Members Mr CHAN Wai-ming, MH, JP Mr WONG Tat-tung, Dennis, MH, JP Mr YEUNG Yuk Co-opted Member Mr WONG Wing-wai - 3 - Action by Opening Remarks The Chairman welcomed all members and representatives of government departments to this meeting and also welcomed Mr HO Wai-lun, Neighbourhood Police Coordinator from the Police Community Relations Office of Sham Shui Po District of the Hong Kong Police Force, who attended this meeting in place of Mr CHAN Wai-kwong, and Ms FUNG Ho-yin, Community Relations Officer from the Kowloon West Regional Office of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, who attended this meeting in place of Ms LAM Suk-wah, Amy. 2. The Committee noted the absence application from Mr LEUNG Yau-fong. Agenda Item 1: Confirmation of minutes of the 16th meeting held on 5 July 2018 3. The Committee confirmed the above minutes without amendment. Agenda Item 2: Matters for discussion (a) Request for improvement to the dental services for the elderly in Sham Shui Po District (CAC Paper 71/18) 4. Ms Zoé CHOW introduced Paper 71/18. 5. Dr Jennifer CHUNG introduced Response Paper 87/18. 6. The Chairman said that before the meeting, the Secretariat had invited the Food and Health Bureau (“FHB”) and the Hospital Authority (“HA”) to attend the meeting, but they could not send a representative to attend the meeting. He asked members to refer to the relevant written responses (Papers 84/18 and 87/18). 7. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views: (i) he was dissatisfied that the departments did not send representative to attend the meeting and considered that the Government disregard the importance of the District Council (“DC”) and primary dental services; (ii) according to a study on liveable cities, Hong Kong was less favourable than China in terms of medical services; (iii) the grassroots had a keen demand for dental services and Hong Kong was financially viable to provide the services. He hoped that the departments would value the opinions and provide dental services to the grassroots. - 4 - Action by 8. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following views: (i) he considered that government dental clinics should not only serve civil servants; (ii) although the eligible age for the Elderly Dental Assistance Programme under the Community Care Fund was gradually lowered, still not all elderly people were covered. Eligible elderly people were also required to make an application for the assistance; (iii) he hoped that FHB and HA could formulate policies to provide dental services to the elderly in the district. 9. Ms NG Yuet-lan raised the following views: (i) some elderly people could not afford the treatment fees. Even though they had dental problems, they would not seek medical treatment. In the Community Participating Round Table Meeting (“Round Table Meeting”), elderly people listed dental services as one of the most needed services. There were many elderly people in the district and she hoped that the relevant departments could set up a dental hospital in the district; (ii) she was dissatisfied that the Government did not expand public dental services with fiscal surplus, and that HA did not send a representative to attend the meeting. 10. Mr YAN Kai-wing raised the following views and enquiries: (i) as teeth would deteriorate with age, dental services should be provided to the elderly as early as possible. He suggested that the Community Care Fund should lower the eligible age for the assistance to 60 years old; (ii) he enquired about the data on the demand of elderly people for dental assistance (such as the assistance of the Community Care Fund), and whether the Government was financially capable of providing elderly dental services. 11. Mr Kalvin HO raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he enquired the reasons the Government only provided emergency dental services to the public; (ii) elderly people generally could not afford the fees of private dental services and the amount of health care vouchers was not sufficient to pay the fees. He hoped that the Government could allocate more resources to provide comprehensive dental services to the public. 12. Mr KONG Kwai-sang raised the following views: (i) he considered that the Government should not shift the responsibility for provision of dental services to the private sector. Also, he did not understand why the Government did not provide subsidised dental services to the public; (ii) he hoped that the Government could provide affordable public dental services. 13. Mr LI Kam-kuen raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he asked whether - 5 - Action by there were adequate dentists in Hong Kong to cope with demand, and about the ratio of dentists to the population. If there were insufficient dentists in Hong Kong, he asked whether overseas dentists would be allowed to practise in Hong Kong and whether the number of places of dentistry degree in Hong Kong could be increased; (ii) the eligible age for dental assistance should be lowered to allow the public to prevent dental diseases timely. 14. Mr LEUNG Man-kwong raised the following views: (i) according to the Response Paper, the provision of comprehensive public dental services might create heavy financial burden to the Government; (ii) members of the public in the young and middle age groups might not be able to afford the fees of private dentists for regular check-ups, and the Government did not provide relevant dental care knowledge and services. As a result, they might suffer from serious dental problems when they got old; (iii) he hoped that the Government could provide public dental services to the elderly and devote more resources to train more dentists. 15. Ms Zoé CHOW raised the following views: (i) if the Government took the lead in training dentists and provided public dental services, she believed that it would increase the level of dental services in Hong Kong; (ii) the amount of health care vouchers was only $2,000 per annum, she hoped that the Government could provide elderly dental services so that elderly people could use health care vouchers for other services. 16. Mr Ambrose CHEUNG raised the following views: (i) the Government should immediately allocate more resources to the 18 districts so that mobile dental services and ophthalmology services, etc. could be provided in each district instantly; (ii) in the short run, non-governmental organisations could provide the services concerned to meet some of the medical needs in the district. In the long run, he hoped that the Government could provide public dental services. 17. Dr Jennifer CHUNG noted members’ views and would relay the views to the parties concerned. 18. Mr YAN Kai-wing said that the departments concerned should send a representative to attend the Committee meetings to respond to members’ enquiries. He suggested including the paper as a follow-up item until the departments concerned sent a representative to attend the Committee meetings. - 6 - Action by 19. Ms Zoé CHOW suggested setting up a working group to follow up this item.