Hong Kong, Feburary 6, 2002 - Hong Kong's first listed, and leading, integrated healthcare provider Quality Healthcare Asia Limited ("QHA") (SEHK: 593) today announces that QHA's Quality HealthCare Man Kee Elderly Care Home ("Man Kee Home") has been awarded 100 Enhanced Bought Place Scheme ("BPS") places by the Hong Kong SAR Government's Social Welfare Department.

Commenting on the contract, Mr Mark Wong, Finance Director, Quality HealthCare Asia Ltd, said, "Quality HealthCare Elderly Services ("QHES") is one of the three core healthcare services offered by the Group. The recent award signifies a further enhancement in our cooperation with the Government. The contract supports the recent statement made by the Hospital Authority Chairman, Dr Lo ka-shui that public and private sectors should improve their links and more effectively transfer patients between private and public sectors. We are seeing this happen in the new contract and are happy to be able to contribute to the community in offering quality elderly services to Government in a more efficient and cost-effective way. We also welcome the innovative approach taken by the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") in its tendering procedure."

Mr Wong continued, "We are committed to working closely with the Government and will continue our efforts to better public/private sector collaboration. In the elderly market, the SWD has been increasing its purchase of beds from the private sector, creating more opportunities for the private sector. Being the largest integrated healthcare provider in Hong Kong's private sector, we continue to set and maintain quality standards in the industry. We would continue to support the Government by offering a business perspective and viable solutions on some of the dilemmas facing the administration of public healthcare."

Established in 1998 and one of the largest operator of licensed elderly care beds in Hong Kong, QHES currently operates 9 elderly care homes with approximately 500 professional staff and 1,829 beds across Hong Kong.

Referring to Man Kee Elderly Care Home that will receive the elderly residents, Mr Simon Li, Chairman, Quality HealthCare Elderly Services, said, "We welcome the Government's recognition of our elderly care services by awarding 100 EBPS places to our Man Kee Home. With our dedicated staff, we are proud that our services standard at Man Kee Home has not only met all the Government's A1 requirements but exceeds them in a number of areas. We provide a higher staff ratio in terms of registered nurses and health workers than the A1 standard. To better serve the needs of our residents, we also hire full-time in-house registered physiotherapists to conduct rehabilitation and maintenance mobility programs for our elderly."

To ensure the comfort and safety of the elderly, an advanced Wireless Nurse Call and Location System has been installed in Man Kee. Mr Li added, "Our homes are designed to provide residents with a dignified atmosphere and lifestyle that fosters physical and psychological independence, while enabling each resident to pursue social and recreational activities."

In QHES' elderly homes, professional staff are specially appointed to implement programmes such as Individualized Resident Care Plan and psycho-social programmes. In-house registered nurses are employed to provide skilled nursing to residents, while specially trained nurses provide accurate assessments on resident care situations.

Quality HealthCare Asia Limited
While continually introducing new and improved services and products. Quality HealthCare is today caring for more than 550,000 Hong Kong people, at 330 Western and Chinese medicine, dental, physiotherapy, footcare, nursing, elderly care and equipment centres.

Our team of almost 900 healthcare professionals represent the largest private sector healthcare team in Hong Kong. For more information, please contact:

Julie Chow
Director of Corporate Communications
Quality Healthcare Asia Limited
Tel: (852) 2851 9263
e-mail: julie.chow@qhs.com.hk

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