Inauguration Ceremony of TWGHs Board of Directors 2018/2019
Advocating the virtues of benevolence and upholding TWGHs’ mission to serve the community
Serving Hong Kong for more than a century, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs) has been striving to provide quality services, which has evolved with time to meet the ever-changing needs of the society. The Group 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’. The Inauguration Ceremony of the TWGHs Board of Directors 2018/2019 was held at the Assembly Hall of Tung Wah Hospital on 3 April 2018, with the Hon. LAU Kong Wah, JP, Secretary for Home Affairs officiating at the Ceremony.
The Hon. LAU Kong Wah, JP, Secretary for Home Affairs, presented testimonials to the retiring Board Members and Advisers. He also administered the oath of the 2018/2019 Board Members include Mr. Vinci WONG, the Chairman, Dr. TSOI Wing Sing, Ken, the 1st Vice-Chairman, Ms. Ginny MAN, the 2nd Vice-Chairman, Mr. TAM Chun Kwok, Kazaf, the 3rd Vice-Chairman, Mr. MA Ching Yeung, Philip, the 4th Vice-Chairman, Mr. WAI Ho Man, Herman, the 5th Vice-Chairman, as well as Mr. HO Yau Kai, Orlando, Ms. CHOI Ka Yee, Crystal, Mr. Derrick FUNG, Ms. YAN Zi, Mr. MO Yu Fung, Billy, Mr. NG Kwok Wing, Michael, Mr. TSUN Kok Chung, Richard, Mrs. FAN TSANG Hei Man, Dennia, Mrs. CHEN HUANG Yanjun, Selena, Ms. TANG Ming Wai, Mandy, Mr. LEE Chak Hol, Michael, Mr. TSENG Hing Fai, Felix, Mrs. WU YUNG Ka Shui, Virginia and Mr. CHOI Meng Wa, the Directors.
Speaking at the Ceremony today, Mr. Vinci WONG, the Chairman said that at present, the total number of service centres has increased to 321 with a total recurrent expenditure including hospital services, exceeding $8.7 billion in the coming year. With an aim of providing more comprehensive services to the community and building a better society, while driving the sustainable development of TWGHs and living up to the Group’s reputation as Hong Kong’s most trustful and credible charity, the Board of Directors has formulated developmental strategies for the next five years.
With long history of providing medical services for more than a century, the Group will continue to provide funding in support of free medical services and the various patient assistance programmes that enable those with financial difficulty to receive treatments and the acquisition of new technology and advanced medical equipment for better service quality. Besides, the Group will continue to take the local in developing integrated Chinese and Western medicine services and training local Chinese medicine professionals, and at the same time promoting academic exchange as well as expanding Chinese medicine mobile clinics and Chinese medicine outreach services. Moreover, the Group has submitted a letter of intent to the government on the building and operation of a Chinese medicine hospital. TWGHs will try the best to assist the government in implementing and promoting such worthy initiative.
To expand the scope of medical services, the Group will strive to open more Chinese medical clinics that specialise in integrated Chinese medicine services and plan to establish new integrated diagnostic and medical centres on Hong Kong Island and explore the feasibility of operating community pharmacies and clinical laboratories. The Group will continue to comply with the healthcare policy of the HKSAR Government and be an active participant of various healthcare schemes, including the Health Care Voucher Scheme which will be extended to more service units, Phase III of the Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine Pilot Programme, and a dental care programme for patients with special needs.
On the education front, guided by the objective of an all-round education, TWGHs has been grooming talents for over a hundred years. To incorporate the TWGHs moral education curriculum into the school-based curriculum of TWGHs primary and secondary institutions, the interdepartmental Enrichment Programme in History and Culture will be launched for TWGHs teachers. Experts and academics will be invited to give lectures, and classroom knowledge will be supplemented by field work outside Hong Kong so as to boost teachers’ understanding of the history and culture of Hong Kong and of TWGHs, and to sharpen their practical teaching skills. To broaden students’ perspectives, the Group will keep organising different thematic exchange tours and support schools financially to hold extra-curricular activities and subsidising students in sporting and artistic endeavours, social service and exchange programmes.
TWGHs strives to create a better learning environment for students. Last year, the Education Bureau allocated new school premises in Shui Chuen O, Shatin to TWGHs for a new aided primary school. The premises are expected to be ready in mid-2022. In the interim, the school will operate at a vacant school premises in Mei Lam Estate, Tai Wai to meet the projected increase in demand for primary school places in Shatin, before moving to the permanent address in Shui Chuen O when the new campus is ready. Improvement works on the interim campus are underway at full steam, with an opening date of September 2018.
Tung Wah College will continue providing excellent tertiary education to nurture students into learned professionals who contribute to society. The College is currently seeking space for the College’s physical expansion and improvement of its campus facilities. Besides, the College plans to launch new academic programmes that are socially and professionally relevant, including a physiotherapy programme. Moreover, the College is actively raising funds in response to the government’s 7th Matching Grant Scheme which encourages tertiary institutions to find new sources of support to sustain growth and improvement in education, research, student support and campus facilities.
Mr. Vinci WONG, the Chairman continued, TWGHs has been providing a spectrum of quality social welfare services to all walks of life. The Group is conducting feasibility studies on the rebuilding of some of its elderly homes, with the aim of increasing space supply in response to the urgent demand while continuing to improve service facilities at multiple homes and neighbourhood elderly centres. Besides that, the Group has introduced brand new services such as the ‘Tenancy Management for Senior Owner-Occupiers Pilot Project’ which gives assistance to frail and elderly owners of old buildings in repair and improvement works, while helping them to find tenants. The income will enable the seniors to improve their lives, thus achieving the ideal of “pension by housing makes for peaceful ageing”. Moreover, the cognitive disorder service scheme will continue to capitalise on the latest technology in its development of an anti-wandering device to improve the quality of life of elderly members of community.
In the area of youth services, TWGHs provides appropriate support for the all-round development of youth in need. Targeting the housing demands of young people, the Group will continue to run the project of youth hostel at Hollywood Road. To develop different channels for youth development, the Group launched the Space Sharing Scheme for Youth in the commercial quarters of Kwun Tong to support young entrepreneurs and will explore ways to develop new professional positions in art, cultural and environmental education in planning for the Holistic Centre for Youth Development in Wong Tai Sin and TKO E-Co Village, with the aim to develop youth’s potential and interest.
TWGHs has always believed in the importance of boosting the role and functions of the family in the creation of a healthy environment for children to grow in. In view of that, the ‘TWGHs Mongkok Child Development Resource Centre’ was set up to provide health-related courses and a support network to new parents and caretakers and the Group will expand on-site preschool rehabilitation services for children with special needs in kindergartens and nursery schools. The Group will continually support the TWGHs Integrated Centre for Addiction Prevention and Treatment to provide integrated and multidisciplinary treatments and counselling services to patients and help their families rebuild lives, and enhance public awareness and understanding of multi-addiction and its prevention through community education. Similarly, the Group gives special care to people with disabilities through the provision of complete and continuous rehabilitation training services. In the coming year, the Group will scrutinise the operations of all 22 social enterprises and 4 service projects with an aim to consolidate and improve, and raise social benefits for sustainable development.
Over the years, TWGHs has played an important role as a pioneer and guardian of Hong Kong’s heritage and culture. In the coming year, the Group will further collaborate with local, mainland and overseas organizations and tap opportunities for cultural conservation. To complement the 150th anniversary of the completion of the trans-continental railroad in 2019, the Group will team up with Wuyi University to select 300 letters from the Tung Wah Coffin Home Archives for translation and publication, in support of academic research on the bone repatriation for overseas Chinese.
Mr. Vinci WONG, the Chairman, is grateful for the guidance of the Government, as well as the trust and support of the general public, which contributed to the success of all plans and initiatives. He sincerely hopes that the Government and public will continue to support TWGHs for radiating the spirit of benevolence in the community and create a better future for Hong Kong.
Since its establishment in 1870, TWGHs 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, TWGHs is the largest charitable organisation with the longest history in Hong Kong. For over a hundred years, TWGHs’ 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 or for free. Today, TWGHs operates 321 services centres, including 5 hospitals and 30 Chinese and Western medicine services centres, 55 education services centres, 229 community services centres that cover elderly, youth and family, rehabilitation and traditional services, as well as the Tung Wah Museum and TWGHs Maisy Ho Archives and Relics Centre, which were established to promote, restore and preserve the heritage and relics of TWGHs, with an aim to protect and preserve local traditional culture.
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Photo 1: Mr. Vinci WONG (first row, right 1), Chairman of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (2018/2019), and his fellow Members of the Board taking the oath of office.
Photo 2: Dr. LEE Yuk Lun, JP (Left), Chairman of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (2017/2018), handing over the title deeds and seals to Mr. Vinci WONG (Right), Chairman of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (2018/2019).
Photo 3: A Group photo of 2018/2019 Board Members including Mr. Vinci WONG, the Chairman (front row, right 5) , Dr. TSOI Wing Sing, Ken, the 1st Vice-Chairman (front row, left 5), Ms. Ginny MAN, the 2nd Vice-Chairman (front row, right 4), Mr. TAM Chun Kwok, Kazaf the 3rd Vice-Chairman (front row, left 4), Mr. MA Ching Yeung, Philip, the 4th Vice-Chairman (front row, right 3), Mr. WAI Ho Man, Herman, the 5th Vice-Chairman (front row, left 3), as well as Mr. HO Yau Kai, Orlando (front row, right 2), Ms. CHOI Ka Yee, Crystal (front row, left 2), Mr. Derrick FUNG (front row, right 1), Ms. YAN Zi (front row, left 1), Mr. MO Yu Fung, Billy (back row, left 5), Mr. NG Kwok Wing, Michael (back row, left 5), Mr. TSUN Kok Chung, Richard (back row, right 4), Mrs. FAN TSANG Hei Man, Dennia (back row, left 4), Mrs. CHEN HUANG Yanjun, Selena (back row, right 3), Ms. TANG Ming Wai, Mandy (back row, left 3), Mr. LEE Chak Hol, Michael (back row, right 2), Mr. TSENG Hing Fai, Felix (back row, left 2), Mrs. WU YUNG Ka Shui, Virginia (back row, right 1) and Mr. CHOI Meng Wa (back row, left 1), the Directors.