The Legislative Council has approved a one-off commitment of $150 million to establish the Trust Fund for SARS.
The fund will provide ex-gratia assistance to the families of SARS victims, eligible recovered patients and suspected SARS patients.
The Health Welfare & Food Bureau said special ex-gratia relief payments will be made to the families of SARS victims as follows:
* surviving spouse - $200,000;
* dependent child(ren) - $500,000 each for those under 18 and $300,000 each for those between 18 and 21 studying full-time;
* dependent parent(s) - $300,000 each; and,
* those not falling into the above category, but meeting certain criteria - $100,000 for each family.
Tide-over assistance available
Special ex-gratia payments serving as tide-over assistance will also be made to eligible recovered patients suffering longer-term effects attributable to SARS (including the effects of medication received for SARS), which might result in some degree of physical or psychological dysfunction.
Similar assistance will be provided to eligible suspected SARS patients treated with steroids who suffer from longer-term effects which might result in some degree of physical dysfunction.
The bureau said applications from these two groups would be considered on a case-by-case basis on individual merit, subject to medical proof and financial needs.
It said there must be some degree of relevant dysfunction applying to the recovered patient or suspected patient treated with steroids, on the basis of the attending doctor's assessment.
There must also be a loss or reduction in income or increase in expenditure of the patient as a result of the SARS infection, on the basis of the medical social worker's advice.
Total financial assistance for the two groups will be capped at $500,000 for each patient.
The level of assistance will be determined by the individual circumstances of each case.
The purview of the fund will be confined to those patients who are Hong Kong residents and clinically diagnosed as having SARS during the outbreak.
Fund to be overseen by a committee
The assistance is special and ex-gratia in nature, on a no-admission-of-liability basis, and is to be determined by an independent committee - the Committee on Trust Fund for SARS.
The committee has been set up to advise the Government on the operation of the trust fund and to approve applications, and comprises a mix of non-official and professional members, ranging from medical and welfare professionals to representatives of patients' groups.
Dr David Fang, a private orthopaedic surgeon, has been appointed chairman. Director of Social Welfare Paul Tang will act as the fund trustee.
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