Alexis Tam | No answers on opening of second public hospital

Alexis Tam inspects medical facilities

Alexis Tam has said that he does not know when Macau’s second public hospital will be ready to open, adding that he “has not been made privy to the information.”
“I have been asked by many [people] as to when the new hospital in Taipa will open and I can tell you that I myself would like to know the answer. I would. We do not have information on the matter. The project has been delivered to the Infrastructure Office,” the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture said, as cited by TDM.
Mr Tam clarified that the final project has been submitted and is now in the hands of the Infrastructure Development Office (GDI). He added that it would be more appropriate to ask GDI when the hospital will open, as they are currently in a better position to answer.
Mr Tam made these comments at the sidelines of a visit to the public health clinical center in Coloane. The facility, which is worth MOP340 million, is undergoing renovation. The completed center will accommodate 60 beds and top-of-the-
line medical equipment specifically to address infectious diseases such as MERS, Ebola and bird flu.
The plan is for the center to receive patients suffering from infectious diseases over the next three years, whereupon the responsibility will be moved to the new public hospital in Taipa.
Along with Tam’s visit to the clinical center in Coloane, the secretary also took the opportunity to visit a new staff residential facility near the hospital. The residential building is intended to provide lodging for medical professionals who have been engaged in emergency situations. However, according to TDM, Alexis Tam hinted that the facility might also provide temporary housing for some of the 500 medical professionals who have recently been hired by the government.
In July 2014, the Health Bureau confirmed that the construction of the Taipa hospital was taking longer than expected, as the bureau had hoped to finish the first phase of the project in 2017. Officials also indicated that the opening of a new health center in Edificio do Lago, initially scheduled to open in 2013, would be postponed.
The reason for these delays was explained to be a result of the construction company’s lack of relevant experience, as well as deficiencies in the area’s infrastructure, such as insufficient roads.
There are currently three hospitals in Macau offering basic and primary healthcare services – the Hospital Conde S. Januário, Hospital Kiang Wu and the Macau University of Science and Technology Hospital. The latter two are both private institutions.
None of the hospitals in Macau currently have an international healthcare accreditation, which sets the international standards for safe and good quality healthcare.
According to the Macau Yearbook, an annual publication by the Government Information Bureau, Macau also has inadequate resources for the training of healthcare professionals. Many physicians in the city obtain their medical education and qualifications from Hong Kong.  Staff reporter

HK, Macau to strengthen cooperation on healthcare

Alexis Tam met his Hong Kong counterparts last week to discuss the possibility of strengthening the cooperation between healthcare services in the two Special Administrative Regions.
Mr Tam visited medical facilities in Hong Kong last week, along with senior officials from the city such as Hong Kong’s Secretary for Food and Health, Dr. Ko Wing Man, and the Chief Executive of Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority, Mr Leung Pak Yin.
The secretary expressed his hopes that Hong Kong’s medical professionals could share their expertise with Macau’s healthcare practitioners, especially at a time when new healthcare facilities are being constructed and developed.
He added that Macau’s ageing population has resulted in increased demand for medical services. He believes that the completion of new medical facilities in Taipa and Coloane will lead to an improvement in the standard of medical services being offered.
According to Mr Tam, the aim of these meetings was therefore to improve cooperation between the two cities in order to optimize the quality of their healthcare systems.
The delegation visited a total of three hospitals under the management of Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority. They also visited emergency facilities at Hong Kong’s Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, including an emergency ward and an emergency transport heliport.