Baptist University has formed a committee in a renewed attempt to secure the southern part of the former Lee Wai Lee Institute for a Chinese medicine teaching hospital.

The working group will comprise 20 members drawn from staff of its School of Chinese Medicine, students as well as alumni.

It came a day after Secretary for Development Paul Chan Mo-po said the government is eyeing the PLA barracks on Waterloo Road for housing, and that building property at the southern part of the site “meets the aspirations of the people for homes of their own.”

But the School of Chinese Medicine stressed that there is an urgent need for such a hospital, and the southern part of the site would be the most convenient location for patients as it is close to the university.

Its dean, Lu Aiping, said there is a great demand for in-patient Chinese medicine services.

Students, who currently take their internship across the border, would find the hospital indispensable as it will serve as a base for further clinical learning.

Associate vice president and director of the school’s clinical division, Bian Zhaoxiang, said that despite the practice of Chinese medicine in the SAR being a mix of Eastern and Western methods, the Chinese arm still takes the dominant role as it is necessary for patients suffering from strokes, tumors, pain and joint diseases.

“Some 200 beds can only serve 20 percent of the stroke patients,” said Bian, bemoaning the government’s lack of policy support for Chinese medicine hospitals.

“Without such policy support, the government’s move to promote Chinese medicine will be incomplete.”

The university had no further comment on the barracks, but when asked whether the government has sacrificed the institution’s needs to meet public demand for housing, its vice president [administration] and secretary Andy Lee Shiu-chuen said: “Justice is in everyone’s heart.”

Lee denied allegations the university only recently came up with its hospital proposal, adding that one that incorporating a dormitory was made in 2009.