China's State Council has appointed York Chow Yat Ngok as
secretary of the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau of the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).?
Chow replaces Yeoh Eng-Kiong, who resigned the post after being
criticized in August for mishandling the 2003 severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis.
The State Council made the appointment on Friday in accordance
with the Basic Law of the HKSAR and following Chief Executive Tung
Chee-hwa's nomination of Chow, said a press release from the Hong
Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council.
Tung said that Chow is a medical specialist with extensive
experience in policymaking, management and social welfare programs.
He is fully confident, he said, that Chow can meet the challenges
of the position.
Tung thanked outgoing secretary Yeoh Eng-kiong for his dedicated
public service.
Chow said that the chief executive approached him in
mid-September about taking the job, and he spent two days
considering his suitability before accepting the offer.
He said he will spend his initial weeks in the post taking in
the bureau's major issues, in particular listening to the public
and their advocates. Top priorities are support and services for
the elderly, the disabled, the chronically ill and families
disadvantaged by poverty, as well as the early detection and
control of infectious disease.
Chow's predecessor came under sharp criticism for Hong Kong's
response to SARS, which devastated Hong Kong when it infected 1,755
people and killed 299. Critics charged that a slow and sloppy
response aggravated the epidemic.
Health officials were accused of inadequate planning for such an
outbreak, paying insufficient attention when SARS emerged and poor
communication, among other problems.
(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn October 9, 2004)