The Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, today (January 29) visited Kowloon City District to learn more about elderly services and environmental hygiene condition in the district. She also exchanged views with members of the Kowloon City District Council on various local issues.
Accompanied by the Chairman of the Kowloon City District Council (KCDC), Mr Pun Kwok-wah, and the District Officer (Kowloon City), Mr Franco Kwok, Professor Chan visited the Po Leung Kuk Wan Lam May Yin Shirley Neighbourhood Elderly Centre to learn about the operation of its elderly voluntary progarmmes, Elderly Volunteer Teams and Community Canteen. During the visit, Professor Chan chatted with senior citizens and exchanged views with them about participating in voluntary work. She also presented certificates to award-wining elderly people taking part in the Caring Neighbourhood Carnival.
Being the first social welfare service unit in the Kai Tak Development Area in Kowloon City, the centre set up Elderly Volunteer Teams to encourage the elderly to participate in voluntary work, and identifies hidden elderly people in the district through continuous outreach services. The programmes provide the elderly with opportunities to serve the community and exemplify their sense of self-worth. The centre also operates Community Canteen to serve needy elderly in the district with high nutrition value and low cost hot meals three times a day.
They then proceeded to the vicinity of Kowloon City Road, Sheung Heung Road and Ha Heung Road to inspect the situation of shop front extensions and the environmental hygiene of rear lanes in order to have a better understanding of the joint operations conducted by the Kowloon City District Office (KCDO), the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and other relevant departments to improve environmental hygiene and combat shop front extension.
"The Government earlier implemented a pilot scheme in rear lanes of Kowloon City Road and their vicinity. A series of improvement measures including strengthening inspection and clearance of refuse, increasing cleaning frequencies in rear lanes, leveling irregular ground surfaces and repairing broken drains. The KCDO will continue to closely monitor the situation and co-ordinate the work of different departments to improve environmental hygiene in the district.
"The Government attaches great importance to the environmental hygiene of the districts. We will adopt a multi-pronged approach to further promote inter-departmental collaboration to enhance environmental hygiene and cleanliness with a view to improving our cityscape," Professor Chan said.
To conclude the visit, Professor Chan met with KCDC members to listen to their views on various medical and environmental hygiene issues.
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