Hong Kong Ordinances

HOSPITALS, NURSING HOMES AND MATERNITY HOMES REGISTRATION ORDINANCE - SECT 3

Registration of hospitals and maternity homes

(Past version on 01/07/1997).
(Past version on 30/06/1997).

(1) If any person carries on a hospital or a maternity home without being duly
registered in respect thereof, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be
liable on summary conviction to a fine of $1000, or in the case of a second or
subsequent offence, to a fine of $1000 and imprisonment for 3 months. (Amended
22 of 1950 Schedule; 17 of 1966 s. 3)

(2) Application for registration shall be made to the Director in writing in a
form prescribed by him. Where the applicant desires registration of premises
as a hospital and as a maternity home separate forms shall be used. (Amended
17 of 1966 ss. 3 & 6; L.N. 76 of 1989)

(3) Every application for registration shall be accompanied by the appropriate
fee specified in the Schedule, whether a hospital or a maternity home or both
a hospital and a maternity home will be carried on in the premises to which
the application refers. (Added 17 of 1966 s. 6. Amended 62 of 1989 s. 2)

(3A) The Legislative Council may, by resolution, amend the Schedule. (Added 62
of 1989 s. 2. Amended 9 of 2002 s. 5)

(4) Subject as provided in this Ordinance, the Director shall on receipt of an
application for registration, register the applicant in respect of the
hospital or maternity home named in the application, subject to such
conditions relating to the accommodation, staffing or equipment thereof as he
thinks fit, and issue to the applicant a certificate of registration, in which
such conditions shall be set forth: (Amended 17 of 1966 s. 6) Provided that
the Director may refuse to register the applicant if he is satisfied-

   (a)  that the applicant or any person employed by him at the hospital or
        maternity home is not a fit person to carry on or to be employed at a
        hospital or maternity home of such a description as the hospital or
        maternity home named in the application; or (Replaced 17 of 1966 s. 6)

   (b)  that for reasons connected with situation, construction,
        accommodation, staffing or equipment the hospital or maternity home,
        or any premises used in connection therewith, is or are not fit to be
        used for or in connection with a hospital or maternity home of such a
        description as the hospital or maternity home named in the
        application, or that the hospital or maternity home, or any premises
        used in connection therewith, is or are used or to be used for
        purposes which are in any way improper or undesirable in the case of
        such a hospital or maternity home; or (Replaced 17 of 1966 s. 6)

   (c)  in the case of a hospital, that the hospital is not under the charge
        of a person who is either a duly qualified medical practitioner or a
        registered nurse and who is resident in the hospital, or that there is
        not a proper proportion of registered nurses among the persons having
        the superintendence of or employed in the nursing of the patients in
        the hospital; or (Replaced 17 of 1966 s. 6)

   (d)  in the case of a maternity home, that the person having the
        superintendence of the nursing of the patients in the home is not a
        registered midwife, or that any person employed in attending any woman
        in the home in childbirth or in nursing any patient in the home is not
        either a duly qualified medical practitioner, a registered midwife, or
        a student  midwife or that there is not a proper proportion of
        registered midwives or student midwives among the persons having the
        superintendence of or employed in the attendance on or nursing of the
        patients in the home. (Amended 17 of 1966 s. 6; 9 of 2002 s. 5)

(5) The current certificate of registration issued in respect of a hospital or
maternity home shall be kept affixed in a conspicuous place in the hospital or
maternity home, and, if default is made in complying with the foregoing
requirement, the person carrying on the hospital or maternity home shall be
guilty of an offence. (Amended 7 of 1966 ss. 3 & 6)

(6) Subject to the provisions of section 4, registration shall be valid until
the end of the year in which it is made. Every person registered in respect of
a hospital or maternity home who desires to continue to be so registered for
any subsequent year shall make application in the month of December for
re-registration and shall pay the fee prescribed by subsection (3). (Amended
17 of 1966 ss. 3 & 6)

(7) (a) Any person registered in respect of a hospital or maternity home who
is aggrieved by a condition imposed by the Director under subsection (4) may
appeal by way of petition to the Chief Executive in Council.

   (b)  On any such appeal, the Chief Executive in Council may confirm, vary
        or reverse the decision of the Director. (Added 17 of 1966 s. 6.
        Amended 37 of 2000 s. 3) [cf. 1927 c. 38 s. 1 U. K.]