Alexis Tam pictured yesterday at the AL
The Legislative Assembly (AL) debate yesterday mostly concerned health-related issues, with the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, reiterating that authorities want to set up an “Academy of Medicine.” A location for the facility is earmarked and it won’t be at the University of Macau’s (UM) Hengqin campus.
The project aims to provide medical doctors with continuous and complementary training in order to increase the number of specialists within the region. The proposal has raised some doubts among lawmakers, with Chan Iek Lap stating that the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Macau (UM) was preparing to open what he regarded as a similar “academy” in September 2016. Alexis Tam clarified that there is no direct connection between the UM announcement and the academy proposed by the government.
“This Academy of Medicine will be managed by the Health Bureau and will be under the umbrella of the public hospital. It should be created inside the hospital premises,” he said, adding that “what the UM proposes is a different concept.”
Lawmaker Angela Leong’s spoken enquiry was focused on mental illnesses and most specifically on depression, which she considers an important topic in the community. According to the lawmaker, the illness “stands as the second-largest cause of death after the cardiovascular diseases on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) list.”
Alexis Tam acknowledged that the government is aware of the issue, revealing that in 2015 the outpatients’ psychiatric services of the public hospital assisted about 31,000 people. The figure represents a growth of 10 percent year-on-year. Additionally, the health care centers assisted another 3,000 people for the same kinds of disorders, constituting a rise of about 20 percent.
The Secretary says that the Health Services are ready to face these problems and that they are already taking measures in order to be able to do so, namely through “the construction of the Psychiatric Clinic Building in Taipa, [and] the creation of the outpatient psychological counseling in the Health Care Centers of Areia Preta, Fai Chi Kei, Tap Seac, Ocean Gardens and Nossa Senhora do Carmo-Lago. They provide psychological evaluation and treatment for emotional problems,” he said.
Other measures set to address these problems relate to strategies for the detection and treatment of psychiatric disorders in the early stages. In order to achieve early diagnosis, the Health Bureau has partnered with associations and institutions, financing them to provide psychological counseling services to residents free of charge.
“In 2015, this psychological counseling service was provided to more than 4,000 people in non-profitable medical institutions,” said Alexis Tam.
“Between 2016 and 2017, the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) will create a professional rehabilitation center, a community support service and one support program which aims to provide temporary lodging,” the secretary said.
Also regarding the community support service, Mr Tam said that a gradual increase in the number of vacancies for the next three years is to be expected, rising from the 220 current vacancies to 490 in 2018.
The Health Bureau director, Lei Chi Ion, added that the services aim to “increase the number of inpatient beds from the current 103,” although he failed to disclose a target number or a timeline.
IPIM head: ‘We are more rigorous’
Mr Jackson Chang, president of the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) said yesterday that the reason that the proportion of requests that resulted in the approval of residence for foreigners stood at about 20 percent is due to the fact that authorities are being more rigorous.
The comments were made in response to a spoken enquiry posted by lawmaker Song Pek Kei during yesterday’s plenary session at the Legislative Assembly (AL), and only applied to foreigners holding professional qualifications.
Song also proposed that the administration create a “points system” similar to that implemented in Hong Kong as a way of attracting more young “talents” since, in her opinion, many of those that used this method to gain residency in the territory since 1995, when the measure started, should be close to or reaching their retirement age now.
The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong, reminded lawmakers that the IPIM has “already established mechanisms to analyze the requests.” He assured them that the department is also in close contact with other departments in order to elevate the efficiency of the analysis process.
“We need to think if Macau needs those people for the future. That’s the criteria that we followed,” Leong said. RM
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