Put Money Into Community Healthcare, Say Doctors

The Hong Kong Medical Association has called on the government to strengthen primary healthcare facilities in order to reduce the burden on public hospitals.

The association's honorary secretary, Dr David Lam, said that if proper care is made available to treat illnesses like diabetes, blood pressure and respiratory diseases at the community level, the workload of hospitals would drop significantly.

Lam said this is crucial for an ageing society like Hong Kong.

"The government has to think how the entire healthcare system should evolve. It is not only about the amount of money they put into the healthcare voucher," he said.

"The best place for ageing is at home," Lam said. They should be going to community care centres near their homes rather than depending on hospitals, he said.

Meanwhile a survey carried out by the association has found that the median consultation fee of general practitioners in the city has shown only a marginal increase in recent years. The average fee is now HK$300 – just 20 per cent higher compared to four years ago.

Lam said the increase is mainly due to the rises in rents and staff costs.

He told RTHK's Wendy Wong that the association had surveyed more than 600 private doctors.