President's message – On the eve of the Chinese New Year

Thanks to the hard work of the Social Activities Committee and the Secretariat, we have a record high attendance at the Union’s First Annual Dinner Party held on Christmas Day of 2002. Over 300 members and guests enjoyed the family atmosphere of our Union on that night. Now I would like to share with you on what we should be proud of as I spoke about that evening. Also, I want to thank you all, for if not with your full support, we would not be able to be proud of being the number one among medical organizations in the following three areas:

  1. We are the First Trade Union in Hong Kong with members from registered Medical Practitioners working in both the private and public sectors;
  2. We are the First Medical Organisation to have membership card with smart chip facility for CME point capture during CME functions;
  3. Finally, our Union came top serving the highest number of doctors among all Hong Kong CME providers for non-specialists in providing the maximum capacity of all CME activities in the recent review of 9 CME Providers by the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK). Please refer to Page 9 of February 2003 Bulletin for further details from the MCHK.

All these reflect the spirit of loyalty and unity among our Union members and I undoubtedly count on you to capture more number ONES in the very near future.

Once again in the Dinner Party, I advocated high degree of transparency in our Union. All Union members are most welcome to give us opinion and advice on the Union’s functions and even welcome to attend Council and Committee Meetings as observers. There is absolutely no barrier between Members and Council Members and the traffic is both ways. Our Union cannot succeed without your input.

Certain members of our Union in the Annual Dinner Party complained to me that since some persons are not so welcome in the Party, why should we still entertain and treat them so well. My explanation to them is we have to “Pau Yung” (be broad minded). The world we live in is indeed very small and who knows, at the end of the day, who would become your enemies and who are your real friends. Similarly, should we adapt the same attitude of “Pau Yung” (broad minded) towards the newly registered Chinese Medicine Practitioners? Should we treat them as brothers and sisters and allow them to join our Functional Constituency as proposed by the HKSAR Government?

Indeed your Council held a dinner meeting with Mr. Stephen Lam Sui Lung, Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, on the night of 6th January 2003 (Monday) when the air temperature of Hong Kong dropped to 7 degree Celsius. We had a long discussion till midnight on the Government’s intention to include Chinese Medicine Practitioners into the existing Medical Functional Constituency in 2004 and we had expressed our concerns to Mr. Stephen Lam on the following aspects on the Chinese Medicine Practitioners:

  1. The system of Registration of Chinese Medicine Practitioners is still in its infancy and we are concerned with aligning them with us, Medical Practitioners, who have at least 100 years of registration and training in Hong Kong;
  2. We are concerned that Medical Practitioners and Chinese Medicine Practitioners are essentially different in the philosophy of handling patients and diseases, and only ONE person to represent both streams of medicine in the Legislative Council is not practical.

On your behalf, the HKDU Council strongly persuaded the HKSAR Government to create a new LegCo seat for the Chinese Medicine Practitioners. And the best time would be 2008 after the review of the Legislature scheduled to be held in 2007 when arrangements can be done easier. There would be much more time from now (6 years vs 2 years) for the registered Chinese Medicine Practitioners to consolidate themselves before being represented in the Legislative Council.

With the HKSAR Chief Executive’s recent policy of creating a Pearl River Delta Financial Zone with the Mainland China in trying to solve the financial problems of Hong Kong and recent report by Gavin Menzies (a historian) that it is the Chinese who discovered America 70 years before Columbus in 1421, we should be heading towards the concept of “Greater China”. Since our Mainland China would be our future hope and our destination, should we not treat our Chinese Medicine Practitioners in a more wise and practical manner? Who knows, they might be our real friends at the end of the day? After all, they are not our enemies at present.

Wishing you all a Peaceful and Prosperous Year of the Goat!

Dr. Yeung Chiu Fat Henry

會長通訊－寫在農曆新年前夕

感謝康樂委員會與秘書處的努力，香港西醫工會在2002年聖誕日舉辦第一屆週年聚餐晚會，參加人數刷新記錄，超過三百名會員與親友享受了一個家庭般溫馨的晚上。現在我要與大家分享那天晚上我提及過值得我們該引以為榮的喜事。同時我要感謝大家每一個人，因為沒有你們的鼎力支持，我們是不可能成為眾多醫生組織中在以下三方面排列第一位而因此值得驕傲：

  1. 我們是香港第一個擁有私家和公家執業醫生會員的工會。
  2. 我們是第一個擁有能自動登記延續醫學教育積分聰明會員咭的醫生組織。
  3. 據最近香港醫務委員會統計了9個延續醫學教育供應機構能為非專科註冊醫生提供延續醫學教育的人次數目，我們工會明顯獨佔鰲頭，遠遠拋離隨後者。香港醫務委員會提供之詳情請見2003年二月會刊第9頁。

這一切反映出工會會員的忠誠團結，無疑地我可倚靠你們在不久將來再取得更多的第一位。

在晚宴上我再一次標榜工會的高透明度。所有工會會員均可隨時就工會活動向會董會提供意見與忠告，甚至可出席會董會和委員會會議旁聽。會董與會員間絕對不會設置屏障，而溝通是雙向的。沒有你們的意見，我們的工會是不可能成功的。

晚宴上一些會員向我投訴，某些人不甚受宴會歡迎，為什麼仍款待他們這樣好呢？我對他們解釋，我們要「包容」（大方），世界是這樣小，到頭來，有誰知道究竟誰是敵人、誰是真正朋友呢？同樣地，我們應否也對剛完成註冊的中醫「包容」（大方）呢？我們應否視他們如手足而允許他們加入我們的功能組別？

會董會於2003年1月6日當香港氣溫驟降至攝氏7度的晚上，曾與政制事務局局長林瑞麟先生聚餐，就政府有意於2004年把中醫列入現有的醫生功能組別中談論了很久，直至深夜。我們曾對林瑞麟先生表達有關對中醫的以下意見：

  1. 西醫在港的制度已超過百多年，而中醫的註冊制度剛起步，把兩者拼在一起實在令人擔心；
  2. 我們與中醫診治疾病的哲學迥異不同，一個人代表兩個完全不同系統是不切實際和行不通的。

香港西醫工會會董會已代你們強烈促請政府建立一個新的中醫立法會議員席位，最佳的時間是在2008年，於2007年立法政制覆核之後，以便容易作出安排。而註冊中醫將會得到差不多六年的時間，去團結起來選出他們的立法會代表。

最近兩則新聞：一是特首施政報告計劃把香港融入珠江三角洲經濟區，去解決香港的經濟困局；另外是一位奇雲孟志斯先生(歷史學家)報導，哥倫布於1421年到達美洲前七十年，中國人已發現了這片新大陸。這種種中國熱環境之訊息，每每使我們應該往「大中華」概念努力。既然中國大陸是我們將來的希望與最終目標，我們是不是須要更明智和實際一點去看待我們的中醫師呢？有誰知道，有一天他們可能才是我們真正的朋友呢？無論怎樣，始終他們並不是我們的敵人。

謹此祝賀大家羊年平安大吉，財源廣進﹗

楊超發醫生