Speech on motion debate “Promoting Hong Kong's economic restructuring” (Translation):

　　President, today's topic is about industrial transformation and economic development. As the general public may consider this topic profound and abstract, I will try to make it more down to earth.

　　What is industrial transformation and economic development? To put it in simple words, it means making money through skill enhancement and job creation. Just now, I heard a number of Members telling the situation of their sectors and seeking government support for the development of those industries. For example, Mr YIU Si-wing spoke for the tourism industry, Mr Frankie YICK the logistics industry, and Mr KWOK Wai-keung the fashion and clothing industry. As for Mr Martin LIAO, he mentioned the scientific research and creative industries when moving his motion. I am not sure if Mr Martin LIAO has ever engaged in scientific researches or creative activities. His answer is in the negative. In fact, many places and countries in the world are heading towards these two industries in their development. But what is our competitive edge? How can we develop scientific research and creative industries? They indeed have two special features. In respect of creativity, is creativity something that you can wish for? You must be creative enough to think of a creative idea. Then, what is the feature I want to tell? Take movie production as an example. It is the wish of many people to　produce a movie. Yet, it is likely that 19 out of 20 movies will incur losses, and only one will bring handsome profits. The same thing happens to scientific researches. In the field of medicine, while multi-national pharmaceutical companies may invest $100 million in developing a new drug, it is likely that 19 drugs will have no efficacy and only one is effective. The drug with efficacy will then bring billions of returns.

　　Hong Kong has to face a problem in developing these products, that is, the investment involved can be huge. Also, it is highly uncertain which project will be profitable. In this case, the Government will have to do two things. First, it must be smart enough to foresee which scientific researches or creative projects will be profitable. Then, it has to invest in these projects. Without investment, our talents may not be able to kick start their projects because a lot of setup and support are needed at the initial stage. Without assistance, even bright talents cannot carry out their projects. However, it is not feasible for the Government to just listen to people singing their own praises and invest in a lot of unprofitable projects. The key is that the Government must have good foresight to judge which projects will really be fruitful. Yet, where can we find people with good foresight? Some colleagues have just talked about the training issue. Training is important to the success of scientific researches and creative projects. At the same time, government officials, when screening these projects, must have good foresight to distinguish the projects which stand a bigger chance of success.

　　Just now, Members gave views from their own perspective and sought government support for their industries, with Mrs IP being the only exception. She said that the healthcare industry which I represent could not be transformed. What a weird view. Therefore, I must come out to speak on this issue. From the viewpoint of a worker, industrial transformation means that we equip ourselves with more skills to make a living. Yet, Mrs IP said that my industry could not be transformed as doctors were well paid and the industry had its maximum capacity. In fact, she was trying to say that my industry was performing very well and did not have to do anything to transform itself. She was not saying that the industry could not transform itself but only that we had already done well. Regrettably, the fact is that many more doctors have been trained in recent years, and there is hence abundant surplus manpower in the private healthcare market. The salaries of doctors are then forced down substantially. Therefore, the healthcare industry also has to create more job opportunities. In other words, there is a need to develop this industry.

　　Can the healthcare industry move towards the direction of high value-added line? Just now, the development of healthcare industry was discussed and a site in Wong Chuk Hang was cited as an example. A week ago, this site was finally awarded to a tenderer at a price of $1.7 billion for the development of private hospital. Considering this example, we may say that the healthcare industry may be the best-performed industry among the six industries with competitive edge proposed by the last-term Government. This is because it is already making some progress and a new private hospital will be completed three years later.

　　Next, I would like to talk about the issue of capacity. The problems caused by "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" are often cited to illustrate the high cost paid by Hong Kong. Even the Chief Executive said that we could not serve them. However, I must first point out that the issue of "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" is a legal issue instead of a medical issue. Doctors, including myself, do not have the ability to open up this market. All the relevant businesses are brought by the general trend. Why do I say that it is not a medical issue? Given the capacity of private hospitals, we can still afford to receive some more cases. Let me put it in another way. In the year which I was born, there were 110 000 newborn babies. Last year ― when people said that there was problem with the capacity of hospitals ― there were only about 90 000 newborn babies. Yet, the number of doctors today is almost double of that in the year I was born. Therefore, I can tell you, in terms of capacity, we can afford to receive more cases.

　　A hospital providing 300 beds will only take up one hectare of land and require the support of 70 doctors and 300 nurses. These healthcare workers constitute less than 1% of the healthcare personnel in Hong Kong. Yet, the turnover of a hospital is $1.5 billion per year. I believe this profit level is higher than that of Disneyland. In addition, there are two spheres in medical science: one is clinical service, and the other is biotechnology and drug development. Hong Kong is in need of both of them.

　　Lastly, I would like to spend 10 seconds or so to talk about parallel traders. Why do we have to curb parallel traders? In fact, they are similar to hawkers. Sometimes, they may cause obstruction on the streets and make some people unhappy. However, the grassroots and low-skilled people can make a living through parallel trading …… if they can make a living in this way, we should allow them to do so.