Committee to advise on Chinese medicine

March 12, 2013

Secretary for Food & Health Dr Ko Wing-man said the Chinese Medicine Development Committee will deliberate and give recommendations, including whether to develop a Chinese medicine hospital.
 
Dr Ko told the media today the Government will consider whether to allocate land for one when the committee formulates its policy.
 
"Before that, the Government will support proposals on development of Chinese medicine hospitals by non-government organisations or universities on their own lands. This is the Government's policy," he said.
 
Dr Ko said the bureau was handling only one official proposal from Baptist University, to build a Chinese medicine hospital at Tsim Sha Tsui. 
 
The university later told the Government that it hoped to consider using the southern portion of the former Institute of Vocational Education (Lee Wai Lee) campus at Renfrew Road in Kowloon Tong, as its Tsim Sha Tsui plan might not succeed.
 
Dr Ko said the Government could not consider other proposals while the Baptist University's original one had yet to be withdrawn.
 
He also said the university’s request to use sites near its campus for teaching purposes should not be linked to the Government’s support for developing a Chinese medicine hospital.
 
Even if the Lee Wai Lee site were to be used for building such a hospital, the Government would need to consider all interested organisations, he said.