Tung Wah Group of Hospitals

Upholding Tung Wah Mission & Evolving in Pace with the Times,
TWGHs Dedicating to Serve HK for 144 years

Holding fast to its service pledge for 144 years, the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs) is dedicated to serving people in need at all levels, caring for the sick and elderly, supporting the distressed and disabled, and nourishing the youth. TWGHs has been keeping in pace with the changing needs of the community, ensuring its versatile range of services are up to date. The Inauguration Ceremony of the TWGHs Board of Directors 2014/2015 was held on 1 April 2014, with the honorable presence of Mr. TSANG Tak-sing, GBS, JP, Secretary for Home Affairs and officiating at the Ceremony.

Addressing at the Ceremony, Mr SZE Wing Hang, Ivan, Chairman of the Board 2014/2015 denoted that the number of service centers of TWGHs has reached 279 in total, whereas the annual recurrent expenditure of non-hospital services is around $3.2 billion. To maintain its huge service network, covering the medical, education and community service areas, TWGHs will adopt a prudent financial approach to carry out its new initiatives, and enhance the cost-effectiveness and efficiency in monitoring its operations; the Board of Directors on the other hand, devotes vigorous efforts every year in fundraising. Every penny of donation is cherished and alchemized into services with an ultimate goal of fostering a loving and caring community. The Board of Directors has allocated $415 million for the medical, education and community services in the year to come.

This year, TWGHs will continue to enhance its service quality and introduce new services. For medical services, besides improving existing services, such as exploring the introduction of dietitian services and integrated diagnosis of osteoporosis to the current “Screening and Diagnostic Services”, vigorous efforts will also be made to strengthen TWGHs’ collaboration with district and professional organizations for the development of its medical, healthcare and dental services, for instance, expanding its community dental services and improving the current outreach dental programme. In response to the escalating demand for Chinese medicine services, the Group will lead in more effective means of Chinese medicine treatment, enhance and safeguard the quality of Chinese medicine products and explore the feasibility to set up a centralized decoction centre for the long-term development of its Chinese medicine specialist outpatient services.

For education services, TWGHs will carry on to push onward with its quality education initiatives in an effort to develop the younger generations into the driving force of the future. Besides encouraging its schools to join the Education Bureau’s schemes of school management and curriculum improvement, as well as promotion of e-Learning, the Group will implement various innovative notions in education, such as introducing an elite programme in its 5 schools which use English as the medium of instruction, to promote the academic competency of the gifted students, so that a systematic support can be provided to enable development of their talents in full. In addition, a “Support Scheme for Elite Sport and Art Students” will be launched through the raising of $1 million to groom talents by supporting them to receive continuous training and participating in large-scale or international competitions. In respect of post-secondary education, the Group has laid down objectives for the Tung Wah College’s sustainable development and its road map to become a private university specialized in healthcare education. The second phase expansion of Medical Science Laboratory has commenced, with additional equipment to be installed. Furthermore, new programmes in different disciplines, such as a degree programme in nursing (post-registration), will also be developed to meet the demand for professional manpower in the local community.

On community services, caring for the elderly is one of the major objectives of TWGHs. To accommodate the community needs for residential services, the Group has been vigorously increasing the number of residential places through different channels and means. A vivid example is the in-situ redevelopment of the TWGHs David Trench Home for the Elderly, which is expected to be completed in 2015, and the residential places will double to 410. To promulgate to different age groups of the elders on early planning and establishing a positive and healthy retirement life, young-old services will be launched to the elder with younger ages while community health education will be organized. The Board will also allocate funds to set up a Third Age Volunteer Services Centre for the recently retired elders to participate in community services, taking advantage of their rich working experience. To promote the concept of holistic end-of-life care, the “Living with Choices” project will extend its service scope to more Continuum of Care Homes, whereas the “Community Palliative Care Support Service” project will be launched for elders living in the community.

For the arm of poverty alleviation, TWGHs will enhance its “Food-for-All” Food Assistance Service by extending it to Shum Shui Po to accommodate the basic needs of the disadvantaged. Likewise, a new community canteen will be opened in Pak Tin Estate of Shum Shui Po to serve the poor elderly, street sleepers and low income families with two healthy hot meals every day at a discounted price of $10. To help build the resilience of the underprivileged, TWGHs is operating 24 social enterprises, providing over 550 full-time and part-time job opportunities. Tapping on the success of iBakery, the Group is planning to open a new bakery, with higher cost-effectiveness and better quality of food, to cope with the business growth. The new bakery will be equipped with a training center to provide specialized training courses for people with disabilities. At present, the iBakery has a total of 5 outlets, employing a total of 50 staff members, with half of them being people with disabilities.

Mr SZE Wing Hang, Ivan, Chairman of TWGHs, extended his gratitude to the government and the zealous philanthropists for their staunch support, which contributed to the success of the various projects implemented by TWGHs. He pleaded for continuous support from the government and the citizens, which will help TWGHs achieve sustainable growth of its charity cause. The Board also pledged to safeguard the solid foundation laid by the predecessors, and to carry on with the lofty mission of TWGHs in serving the Hong Kong community.

Click here to download the Appendix “Highlight of Services and Development of TWGHs 2014/15”

Click here to download the inauguration speech of Mr SZE Wing Hang, Ivan, Chairman of TWGHs

The inauguration ceremony of TWGHs was officiated by Mr. TSANG Tak-sing, GBS, JP, Secretary for Home Affairs. Members for the 2014/2015 Board of Directors include:

• Chairman: Mr. SZE Wing Hang, Ivan
• 1st Vice-Chairman: Ms. Maisy HO
• 2nd Vice-Chairman: Mrs. Katherine MA
• 3rd Vice-Chairman: Dr. LEE Yuk Lun, JP
• 4th Vice-Chairman: Mr. Vinci WONG
• 5th Vice-Chairman: Mr. Sunny TAN

Directors:

• Ms. TANG Ming Wai, Mandy
• Ms. Renee HUNG
• Mr. WONG Yip Kong, John
• Mr. AU Yu Fan, Gabriel
• Ms. FUNG Siu Wan, Stella
• Dr. TSOI Wing Sing, Ken
• Mr. MA Chi Un, Fred
• Miss MAN Wing Yee, Ginny
• Mr. LIU Wai Lun, Jeffrey
• Mr. MA Ching Yeung, Philip
• Mr. LEE Kwong Yee, Jason Joseph
• Mr. YEUNG Ka Shing
• Mr. CHU Sheng Yu, Lawrence
• Mr. TSENG Hing Yip, York

Since its establishment in 1870, Tung Wah has been all along upholding its mission “To heal the sick and to relieve the distressed; to care for the elderly and to rehabilitate the disabled; to promote education and to nurture youngsters; and to raise the infants and to guide the children.” Nowadays, Tung Wah has become the largest charitable organization in Hong Kong. For over a hundred years, Tung Wah’s medical and health, education and community services have developed rapidly to fulfill the needs of the society and to provide high quality services at low rates. Today, Tung Wah operates over 279 services centres, including hospitals and health services and Chinese medicine services centres, education services centres, community services centres that cover elderly, youth and family, rehabilitation and traditional services, whilst the Tung Wah Museum strives to promote, restore and preserve the heritage and relics of Tung Wah.

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For media inquiries, please contact the Corporate Communications Branch of TWGHs at 2859 7857

Mr. SZE Wing Hang, Ivan (Right, front row), Chairman of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (2014/2015), and his fellow Members of the Board taking the oath of office.

Ms Ina CHAN (Left), Chairman of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (2013/2014), handing over the title deeds and seals to Mr. SZE Wing Hang, Ivan (Right), Chairman of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (2014/2015).