Legislative Council

LC Paper No. CB(2) 823/98-99

Ref : CB2/HS/1/98

Legislative Council Subcommittee on Human Organ Transplant Ordinance

Minutes of the first meeting held on Wednesday, 2 December 1998 at 2:15 pm in Conference Room B of the Legislative Council Building

Members Present:

Hon Ronald ARCULLI, JP (Chairman)
Hon Cyd HO Sau-lan
Dr Hon LEONG Che-hung, JP
Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG LAU Yau-fun, JP
Hon Jasper TSANG Yok-sing, JP
Hon YEUNG Yiu-chung
Dr Hon TANG Siu-tong, JP

Members Absent:

Hon Michael HO Mun-ka
Hon CHAN Yuen-han
Hon Andrew WONG Wang-fat, JP
Dr Hon YEUNG Sum
Hon Andrew CHENG Kar-foo
Hon LAW Chi-kwong, JP

Clerk in Attendance:

Ms Doris CHAN

Chief Assistant Secretary (2) 4

Staff in Attendance:

Mrs Eleanor CHOW

Senior Assistant Secretary (2) 4

I. Election of Chairman

Nominated by Dr LEONG Che-hung and seconded by Dr TANG Siu-tong, Mr Ronald ARCULLI was elected Chairman of the Subcommittee.

II.The Way Forward

2. Dr LEONG Che-hung advised that at the special meeting of the Panel on Health Services on 23 November 1998, members had a thorough discussion on the operational difficulties encountered by the Human Organ Transplant Board and areas of controversy of the Human Organ Transplant Ordinance (HOTO). The Panel agreed that the deliberations of the meeting would be put on record for reference and follow-up action by this Subcommittee. Noting that the draft minutes of the meeting had already been passed to the Administration for comments, the Chairman instructed the Clerk to request the Administration to respond by Friday, 4 December 1998 and to issue the draft minutes to members for their reference thereafter.

(Post-meeting note: The minutes of the special meeting of the Panel on Health Services have been circulated to members vide LC Paper No. CB(2) 814/98-99)

3. Mrs Sophie LEUNG said that since some members of this Subcommittee were not members of the LegCo Ad Hoc Group (the Ad Hoc Group) which studied the Human Organ Transplant Bill between 1992 and 1995, the Administration should be invited to brief members on the background of the HOTO at the next meeting. She also suggested that the views put forward by the Human Organ Transplant Board in its letter dated 1 December 1998 (LC Paper No. CB(2)779/98-99(02)) should be sent to the Administration for consideration and comments. Members agreed. The Chairman said that to facilitate discussion and deliberation, the Clerk would provide copies of the minutes of the 10 meetings and other relevant papers of the Ad Hoc Group to members for their reference. (Post-meeting note: The minutes and relevant papers of the Ad Hoc Group have been circulated to members vide LC Paper No. CB(2) 791/98-99)

4. Given the controversial nature of the HOTO, Dr LEONG Che-hung suggested and members agreed that relevant organizations should be invited to give views. Members also agreed that advertisements should be placed in two local newspapers (English and Chinese) to invite submissions on the HOTO. (Post-meeting note: Advertisements were placed in the South China Morning Post and Ming Pao Daily News on 7 December 1998)

5. Members also briefly discussed whether further information on overseas practices should be sought. They noted that there might be difficulty in obtaining such information from countries like the United Kingdom and Canada where there was sufficient supply of cadaveric organs for transplant and from countries like the USA and Australia where the practice varied from state to state. The Chairman spoke from experience that overseas countries were often slow in responding to this type of enquiries.

III. Dates of next meetings

6. Members agreed that the next three meetings would be held on 9 December 1998 at 8:30 am, 15 December 1998 at 8:30 am, and 8 January 1999 at 4:00 pm. Members also agreed to meet deputations at the meeting on 8 January 1999.

7. The meeting ended at 2:35 pm.

Legislative Council Secretariat
8 December 1998