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Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Dr E K Yeoh, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

It was reported that during the last Lunar New Year holidays, the number of attendances at the accident and emergency ("A&E") departments of public hospitals was higher than that on normal days, and that some of the private medical practitioners who maintained consultation services during this period raised their consultation fees drastically. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether :

(a) it knows if the Hospital Authority had deployed additional medical and nursing staff to the A&E departments of public hospitals during that period, and if the number of medical and nursing staff who served at these A&E departments were sufficient to meet the increased demand; and

(b) it has plans to regulate the level of consultation fees charged by private medical practitioners during public holidays, if it has such plans, of the details; if not, of the measures to prevent private medical practitioners from overcharging consultation fees during public holidays?

Reply :

Madam President,

(a) In anticipation of the increase in attendance during the last Lunar New Year holidays, particularly during the last two days of the public holidays, the Hospital Authority (HA) had deployed additional medical and nursing staff to cover the busy hours of the Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments. On 6 and 7 February when large increase in A&E attendance was recorded, HA had increased the staff strength in terms of total man-hours by 7% for medical staff, and 4% and 7% for nursing staff on these two days respectively. Moreover, two general outpatient clinics in Our Lady of Maryknoll and Yan Chai Hospital had operated special sessions during the holidays to cope with the demand.

Despite the increase in A&E attendance during the holidays, which was 19% higher than the average daily attendance in January 2000, the A&E departments could meet the target waiting time for the Categories I and II cases (i.e. 100% critical cases at zero waiting time and 95% emergency cases with waiting time of less than 15 minutes). For Category III cases, i.e. urgent cases, only 87% instead of the target of 90%, is able to achieve the waiting time of less than 30 minutes. Some patients who were triaged as non-urgent, particularly those who attended the busiest A&E departments, had to wait longer than the target waiting time.

(b) The Hong Kong Medical Association and the Consumer Council have promulgated a set of "Patients' Rights and Obligations", stating that patients have the right to know the fees and charges prior to consultation and undergoing any examination and procedure. Members of the public may require providers of service to provide them with the fees and charges for reference before using the service. Hong Kong being a free market economy, the level of fees charged by a private practitioner is determined by market factors. There are no plans to regulate the level of consultation fees.

Apart from seeking the service of private medical practitioners, members of the public requiring medical services during public holidays can also go to Department of Health's public holiday clinics and Accident and Emergency Departments of the 15 HA hospitals if necessary. HA is also planning to implement a pilot scheme to let out premises near the A&E departments to private practitioners for providing general outpatient services to patients patronizing A&E departments.

END/Wednesday, March 1, 2000

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