Appointment of chairman keeps doors open, but funds still need urgent boost
Hong Kong's medical museum has escaped closure after a chairman was elected to fill the post left vacant for a year, but its financial troubles remain unsolved.
In the meantime, directors of the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences have decided to form a working group to approach the government to sponsor it or even take it over.
The museum - which used to be the Bacteriological Institute - needs about $2 million a year and depends solely on donations.
Concerns over its fate mounted recently after it decided to cancel a fund-raising event next month because of the huge manpower and resources involved and the lack of a chairman to guard it in times of crisis.
The leadership vacuum was filled at the museum's annual general meeting on November 11, when pathologist Laurence Hou Lee-tsun was elected chairman.
Curator Andrew Lam Hon-kin said the museum had enough money to run for six months. During that period, the working group will try to map out the museum's future.
