Hong Kong Hospital Authority Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Health and Dr. Cheng Yu Tung Foundation, signifying their cooperation in training community medical expertise for the Chinese mainland.

According to the MOU, the three parties agreed to launch the "New Horizon in Community Health - Sponsorship Program on Community and Primary Care Training Program for Mainland Health care Professionals" to dovetail with the state policy on healthcare development, and to train expertise in community medicine.

Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu, Dr. Cheng Yu-tung of the Dr. Cheng Yu Tung Foundation together with authority chairman Anthony Wu, and authority chief executive Shane Solomon officiated the signing ceremony.

Huang said the training program will have a profound meaning for the realization of the country's health plan targets.

"The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding symbolizes a milestone of this paramount development," he said.

Dr. Cheng Yu-tung said at the ceremony that the target and priority of the foundation was to support training, adding he believed that with further advancement of the skills and knowledge of the healthcare professionals on the mainland, the quality of medical services would be enhanced to ensure a healthy population.

In his welcoming speech, authority chairman Wu said development of community healthcare is not only a global macro-trend but a major direction of the Chinese mainland's healthcare development.

"I fully believe that the project will create an interactive and complementary effect to enhance the exchange and training opportunities between healthcare professionals of the two places," Wu said.

In 2006, the Ministry of Health laid down a clear direction that the future healthcare trend was to emphasize disease prevention rather than the traditional hospital-based model with special focus on development of healthcare policy management and community healthcare training.

The estimated subsidy by the Dr. Cheng Yu Tung Foundation per year is 1.5 million HK dollars (about US$194,000) in the form of a three-year pilot scheme. Thereafter the training course is extendible to 10 years. The first training course will be conducted in 2008.

The training course is tailor-made to meet international professional standards with special attention being paid to the particular situations on the mainland. The Ministry of Health will be responsible for the recruitment of trainees, while the Institute of Health Care of the Hospital Authority is the base for the provision of training.

(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2007)