Bulletin Winter 1975

18 a A. system where no general medical insurance or free medical services are provided. However, in comparison with the other local university, the University of Hong Kong, our conditions are less favourable. The resident population on campus is greater at The Chinese University; the University of Hong Kong, being not so far removed from town, need not provide 24-hour emergency service throughout the year .Moreover, the University of Hong Kong has a medical school. It is quite regrettable that the funding authorities tended to overlook these differences in the allocation of grants. What difficulties have you encountered in the operation of the University Health Service? We have naturally encountere d some difficulties. They may be summed up as: (1) Limited means. This University basically offers free medical service, and draws its funds entirely from the University budget. As a result, the operation of the University Health Service is completely dependant on the financial well-bein g of the University an d the Government. In the recent Economy Drive of the University, for instance, various health projects were shelved. For universities administering a health insurance scheme where members are required to subscribe, their health services may be in a better position to programme their development, knowing beforehand how much they ca n spend. This is the case with "income". How about "expenditure"? Hong Kong is a highly commercialised society with a n essentially egoistic population. Inevitably with our free medical service there are certain members of the University who tend to abuse or mis-use the service. They fail to realise that although no fees are charged at the time of service, the provision of an acceptable level of high quality care not only costs but may cost dearly if utilisation of the services were not made with care or in an appropriate manner. (2) Lack of professionally trained personnel. University health service has become a specialized discipline in its own right after nearly a century's development, and there should, in theory, be no problem to recruit professionally trained personnel to staff the Health Service here, but i n practice, it is not so. Take mental health, for example. There are not many psychiatrists in Hong Kong and this University has neither the means nor the condition to attract or retain any of them to join the Service at the present stage of its development. The advisability of recruiting an expatriate staff from overseas with a different cultural and social background is also debatable. University Health Centre