A few years ago, a European Union minister participated in a demonstration against the institution’s own policy.
The closest we have in Macau are the criticisms made in 2015 by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng of his own Health Bureau.
Under other circumstances, it would be quite normal to hear of an overseer criticising services that depend upon him, but we are in Macau. And in Macau there is no memory of this happening.
What did Alexis Tam say?
Throughout 2015, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture put his head above the parapet by saying several things that delighted journalists and guaranteed media attention for the health sector. “I’ll give [the Health Bureau] one year . . . I feel that a solid healthcare system should be in place in one year. We need to have a new system which meets international standards,” he announced whilst visiting the public Conde de Sao Januário Hospital Centre. Tam also said that 80 to 90 per cent of health professionals’ complaints concerned “bad hospital management,” explaining that as Macau “has much money . . . [it] . . . is difficult to explain to people why Macau doesn’t have a good health system.” He further announced he intended to hire 529 medical personnel.
Four months after replacing the Director of the Conde de São Januário Central Hospital, Chan Wai Sin, he said he managed the change not only for the purpose of enhancing the overall medical service but for better internal management at the only government-owned hospital.
But Alexis Tam also said what was understood as a criticism of the Health Bureau, in early 2015: “We must change, we have the will; at least, I have the will to improve the health system. Now is the Health Bureau time, they have to work.” One year after, Lei Chin Ion, the Health Bureau Director, is still in office.
In 2015, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture also said: “Often we talk about assuming responsibility and I promise that if I do not do well I will resign from the position” – another statement innovative in Macau’s politics. Incidentally, he had immediately highlighted the mandate from the beginning when he pledged in a Business Daily interview: “Improving the medical care system in Macau is one of my most important tasks and in five years [healthcare] will be a brilliant area.”
Last year, he repeated: “Health for me is the priority of all priorities.”
With several important areas making up his portfolio (the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau, the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Sports Bureau, Macau Government Tourism Office, among others) the biggest headaches of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture are really those generated by the Health Bureau.
And the problems did not end in 2015. Last year, Alexis Tam had to recognise that the 2017 opening of the new public Cotai Hospital was unrealistic and that it would likely enter into operation in 2019. But nobody believes in that timing, what with other problems with the Infectious Diseases Building – like, when will it open to the public?
Living in the eye of the storm since taking office, what does Alexis Tam have to say to ‘save’ himself? He asks for tolerance, saying he is working hard, with all his energy, for the Macau healthcare system. Recently, he maintained that the healthcare system is already improving, claiming that “more than 80 per cent of the population now has free medical assistance . . . [and] . . . we managed to shorten the waiting lists.”
In the October Macau Business interview Secretary Tam stated: “Everyone has already noticed the improvements in our medical care system in less than nine months.”
‘Naughty boy’
Alexis Tam was not available to answer Macau Business’s questions. But what is normal for the other Macau Secretaries is somewhat strange when we talk about the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, rated as the most popular of the six most senior government officials (2015 Macau CIHC Power public opinion poll).
Is Alexis Tam a candidate to succeed Chui Sai On?
It is too early to say. But, coincidence or not, the incumbent Chief Executive was the first Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture following the handover. Called by Chui Sai On “a naughty boy . . . [who] . . . wants to do everything [he wishes]”, Alexis Tam is also considered by Chief Executive “a good colleague and a good team member. He is a very committed and dedicated worker. He does have his own style but in all his projects he is very honest and he has been accepting the opinions of the population, especially the critics” (2016, August).
