Hong Kong Hospital Authority Friday signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Health and Dr. Cheng Yu
Tung Foundation, signifying their cooperation in training community
medical expertise for the Chinese mainland.
According to the MOU, the three parties agreed to launch the
"New Horizon in Community Health - Sponsorship Program on Community
and Primary Care Training Program for Mainland Health care
Professionals" to dovetail with the state policy on healthcare
development, and to train expertise in community medicine.
Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu, Dr. Cheng Yu-tung of the
Dr. Cheng Yu Tung Foundation together with authority chairman
Anthony Wu, and authority chief executive Shane Solomon officiated
the signing ceremony.
Huang said the training program will have a profound meaning for
the realization of the country's health plan targets.
"The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding symbolizes a
milestone of this paramount development," he said.
Dr. Cheng Yu-tung said at the ceremony that the target and
priority of the foundation was to support training, adding he
believed that with further advancement of the skills and knowledge
of the healthcare professionals on the mainland, the quality of
medical services would be enhanced to ensure a healthy
population.
In his welcoming speech, authority chairman Wu said development
of community healthcare is not only a global macro-trend but a
major direction of the Chinese mainland's healthcare
development.
"I fully believe that the project will create an interactive and
complementary effect to enhance the exchange and training
opportunities between healthcare professionals of the two places,"
Wu said.
In 2006, the Ministry of Health laid down a clear direction that
the future healthcare trend was to emphasize disease prevention
rather than the traditional hospital-based model with special focus
on development of healthcare policy management and community
healthcare training.
The estimated subsidy by the Dr. Cheng Yu Tung Foundation per
year is 1.5 million HK dollars (about US$194,000) in the form of a
three-year pilot scheme. Thereafter the training course is
extendible to 10 years. The first training course will be conducted
in 2008.
The training course is tailor-made to meet international
professional standards with special attention being paid to the
particular situations on the mainland. The Ministry of Health will
be responsible for the recruitment of trainees, while the Institute
of Health Care of the Hospital Authority is the base for the
provision of training.
(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2007)