The city's first and only Chinese Medicine Teaching Hospital will be built by Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) before 2020, according to its newly-elected president Albert Chan. He was detailing the university's plans over the next decade on Wednesday.

"We will do our utmost to make the new Chinese Medicine Teaching Hospital number one. For me, anything below 100 is meaningless." Chan said. The upcoming hospital, he added, would offer patients an option to see a Chinese Medicine doctor in an organized set-up rather than a small clinic.

The proposed 22-bed hospital is expected to ease the Chinese Medicine service shortage. The services will include a combination of Chinese and western medicine treatment, which is similar to the services currently offered at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in-patient, day care, clinical research, patient resources, etc.

"We don't see the hospital as HKBU's private property, but something that will be open to all universities in Hong Kong. It will serve as a center for Chinese Medicine services and allied researches," said Chan.

With a rich pool of professional Chinese medicine practitioners, the new hospital will provide effective solutions to many diseases, which cannot be fully cured with western medicine treatment, he added.

All esteemed capital cost of building the hospital, which is around HK$800 million, is supposed to be provided by the government or met through donations, or a combination of both. The profit, he said, will go to Chinese Medicine researches. Some willing donors are in touch with HKBU, according to Chan.

The hospital, which will have a floor area of roughly 16,500 square meter, is proposed to stand on the site of Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education Lee Wai Lee Campus in Kowloon Tung, just next to the new campus of HKBU.

The HKBU president also said he believes that the new hospital can offer more internship opportunities to local Chinese medicine students. As of now, such facilities exist only on the mainland. And because of a very different social environment, mainland experiences fail to meet the needs of Hong Kong people.

The School of Chinese Medicine (SCM) of HKBU is a well-known and leading higher education provider in its field. It boasts over 1,800 students and a team of experienced academics and Chinese medicine experts. Once the Chinese Medicine teaching Hospital is founded, it will closely cooperate with the HKBU SCM along with 11 Chinese Medicine clinics it owns.

China Daily

(HK Edition 10/28/2010 page1)