Chief Secretary Carrie Lam visited Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Carrie Sze Memorial Dental Centre in North Point today, to check on the implementation of the Community Care Fund Elderly Dental Assistance Expanded Programme.
She met with seniors and dentists on the programme, and inspected how the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme computer system works.
Mrs Lam also chatted with a senior whose life had improved after receiving dentures under the programme.
She thanked the private dentists and dental clinics who had joined the programme, adding that their staunch support will benefit more needy elders and enable them to eat normally and stay healthy in their twilight years.
The fund has launched 30 assistance programmes, with a total commitment of more than $6.188 billion, benefitting more than a million people.
Among them was the Elderly Dental Assistance Programme launched in September 2012, to provide removable dentures and other dental services for low-income seniors, which was expanded on September 1 this year.
As at the end of October, more than 6,800 applications were received under the expanded programme, and about 6,600 have booked their first dental appointments.
The Government also launched the Elderly Health Care Voucher Pilot Scheme in 2009, to subsidise seniors' private primary care services, including dental and other preventive care services.
The voucher scheme became a recurrent programme in 2014, and the annual voucher amount was increased to $2,000 per eligible senior.
