2004-10-27
The establishment of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) is a major milestone for the public health system in Hong Kong because it is one of the best ways to protect the community from emerging or evolving public health threats.
The remark was made by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow at the CHP Inauguration Ceremony today (October 27).
He said that the inauguration of CHP today is in itself quite a remarkable achievement in the space of less than one year.
"To me, it shows our determination to remain vigilant and prepared, and epitomizes the 'can do' spirit of Hong Kong people," Dr Chow said.
He said the CHP is a strategic undertaking to address systemic issues identified by the SARS Expert Committee and thanked the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) for contributing a sum of $500 million to establish the CHP and support its initial operations.
"This new public health agency was launched just four months ago in June and has already strengthened Hong Kong's capacity to prevent and control communicable diseases," Dr Chow said.
The CHP is staffed with highly professional and dedicated people who will work extremely hard to make it a centre of excellence in disease prevention and control, he added.
The institutional arrangements of the CHP are grounded on a collaborative approach to health protection.
"A Board of Scientific Advisors and seven scientific committees have been set up to pool together professional knowledge, expertise and intelligence both locally and internationally. This professional input will help us to shape strategies and programmes to manage communicable diseases or risk factors of importance to Hong Kong," Dr Chow said.
Noting that CHP has adopted a population-based, cross-sectoral approach to address various public health threats, Dr Chow said it has made concerted efforts to engage other government departments, non-government organizations, community points-of-care and the tourism sector to enhance preparedness against SARS and other communicable diseases.
As communicable diseases have no respect for national borders or boundaries, there is a pressing need for more international co-operation to combat new emerging diseases, Dr Chow said, adding that the CHP has institutionalized communications with the Mainland health authorities and has also been forging closer ties with health protection agencies further afield.
Echoing Dr Chow's view on the importance of cooperation between Hong Kong, the mainland and overseas health professionals, Dr Wang Longde, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health, said at the ceremony that the setting up of CHP was an important step to strengthen local and regional capacity in health protection.
"I am happy to see close ties being established and reinforced with international partners, health authorities in Asia and specifically in the Pearl River Delta region.
"I am impressed by the increasing amount of training activities, communicable disease data exchange, liaisons and discussions at various levels among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.
"The Chinese Government will spare no efforts in supporting Hong Kong and joining the World Health Organization and countries around the world to be vigilant and well prepared for existing and emerging infectious diseases," Mr Wang said.
Another officiating guest of the ceremony, Dr Shigeru Omi, Regional Director, World Health Organization, Western Pacific Regional Office, said the SARS epidemic in 2003 showed how international cooperation could be highly effective in fighting public health threats.
"In the light of the re-emergence of known diseases in the region and the growing threat from new diseases, institutions such as the Centre for Health Protection can play an important role in identifying and addressing gaps in current health protection mechanism not only in Hong Kong but in the region as a whole," Dr Omi said.
During the ceremony, Mr John Chan, Deputy Chairman of the HKJC presented a $500 million cheque to Director of Health, Dr PY Lam.
Mr Chan said providing a better and healthier environment for the people of Hong Kong has been at the heart of the HKJC's work.
"Last year, during the SARS epidemic, the Club responded quickly by donating HK$125 million to all the schools and community services centres to meet the immediate need for implementing preventive measures against the spread of the disease.
"As a long-term measure to effectively guard against the possible return of SARS and other life threatening communicable diseases, the Club also committed to donate HK$500 million for the establishment CHP to provide an enhanced health protection system for Hong Kong," Mr Chan said.
It was a great privilege for the HKJC to participate in the CHP's Advisory Committee and play a part in the establishment and development of the Centre, he noted.
"We are pleased to see that our donation is being deployed in an effective manner, evidenced by the tremendous progress made by the Centre in the development of this new public health infrastructure," Mr Chan added.
Also attending today's ceremony included the Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Mrs Carrie Yau, the Chief Executive of the Hospital Authority, Dr William Ho and the Controller of the CHP, Dr PY Leung.
End/Wednesday, October 27, 2004