The Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, delivered a new Budget today (Feb. 26) and announced the government will, in the next financial year, increase the number of vouchers under the Residential Care Service Voucher Scheme for the Elderly by 1,000 to 6,000 in total and increase the number of vouchers under the Community Care Service Voucher Scheme for the Elderly by 1,000 to 12,000 in total, involving an annual expenditure of about HK$1,710 million and HK$900 million respectively.

He pointed out that the Working Group on Promoting Silver Economy will implement measures in five areas, namely boosting "silver consumption", developing "silver industry", promoting "quality assurance of silver products", enhancing "silver financial and security arrangements", and unleashing "silver productivity". Relevant policy bureaux are taking forward their work.

In addition, the HKMA will collaborate with the Hong Kong Association of Banks to formulate industry guidelines this year, with a view to encouraging banks to offer elderly-friendly electronic banking services.

The government has just raised the upper age limit for participants of the Youth Employment and Training Programme to 29 and introduced workplace attachment opportunities in the GBA to help young people enhance their employability. The estimated expenditure for the Programme next year is around HK$100 million, he said.

He said that to develop primary healthcare, the government will upgrade the District Health Centre Expresses in Central and Western District, Eastern District and Yau Tsim Mong District into District Health Centres this year, with a view to strengthening the community healthcare system.

The government is progressively implementing and completing the 16 works projects, which entail a total of about $190 billion, under the First Hospital Development Plan. Taking into account the latest demographic structure, planning and development situation in Hong Kong, we will review the distribution, scale and priority of projects under the Second Hospital Development Plan, and will make the announcement in due course.

Furthermore, the government and the HA are reviewing the structure and levels of subsidization for public healthcare, with a view to strengthening the financial sustainability of public healthcare services and providing better support for patients with serious or critical conditions as well as those with financial difficulties. The outcome of the review will be announced this year, according to Chan.

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