The Islands Medical Complex project is on track and will open the doors of its first phase by December this year, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong said on Friday on the sidelines of the Third Standing Committee meeting of the Legislative Assembly. The meeting was held as a discussion on the details of the facility’s management regime.
Questioned on the topic, Ao Ieong told the media that everything is in order for the timeline to be accomplished and that the recruitment of staff is also taking place without delays or issues.
She reaffirmed that those Macau residents who currently enjoy free medical care (people indicated for such care for public health reasons, oncologic patients, and family planning as well as pregnant women, children up to 10 years old, and students of primary and secondary education levels and all those over 65 years of age), will be able to continue to enjoy free services, when the medical care provided by the Islands Hospital is by Health Bureau (SSM) referral.
The Secretary also noted that in addition to the 50 employees appointed by the Peking Union Medical College Hospital – whose functions will be related to the management of the facility – the government has also recruited over 400 medical personnel, prioritizing local recruitment, where possible.
She stressed that recruiting from the mainland or abroad will be resorted to as a solution only in the case of a shortage of human resources.
As for the services provided by the Islands Hospital, Ao Ieong noted that there will be three fare levels. The first is dedicated to the residents who currently enjoy free medical care. If they are transferred by the SSM, they will continue to enjoy the same privileges. The second level is for residents transferred by the SSM but who do not enjoy free medical care (i.e. the majority of the population), in which “fees will be reasonably charged,” she said. The third and last level refers to the fully private system, who are provided with “high quality private medical services.” For private patients, the fee charged “will be based on the market price,” according to the Secretary.
Central Library car park deletion ‘not yet decided’
The possibility was aired last week by community leaders that the government would remove the car park from the Central Library project, reserving the space for the mechanical rooms and other storage facilities. In response to questions on this topic, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong said that the matter is yet to be decided.
“However, after a preliminary analysis, we realized that if it were to be built, there would not be many parking spaces due to the space limitations,” she said. Her response suggests that the car park may not be built.
Contributing to suggestions that the carpark idea may be abandoned, she also mentioned the construction time of the project and alluded to the need for “more efficient use of public funds.”
