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Members of the public have expressed impartial, constructive and forward-looking views on healthcare reform and supplementary financing options to the Government during the three-month consultation period which ended today (June 13), the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, said.
"Their views have helped us better understand public expectations on healthcare reform. We will formulate proposals for the second stage of our public consultation that meet their concerns in the hope of reaching a consensus," Dr Chow said.
Officials of the Food and Health Bureau had attended more than 150 forums organised by different sectors. Dr Chow had joined more than 40 briefings, including those organised by the 18 District Councils.
"My impression is that our citizens took to heart matters that concern their community. They are also willing to discuss the long-term healthcare reform in a sensible and down-to-earth manner," Dr Chow said.
The Government also identified three areas on service reform that attracted public concern:
* How to further improve the service quality, resource management and cost-effectiveness of public healthcare services, particularly in the positioning and monitoring of services as well as resource allocation by the Hospital Authority, to ensure that the public healthcare system can continue to meet the basic health needs of the public, particularly the disadvantaged.
* How to ensure that fees paid by patients for private healthcare services and health insurance are value for money. This includes how to improve the transparency of the charging mechanism of private healthcare services, strengthen the monitoring of service quality and impose proper regulation on health insurance.
* How to ensure that both the software and hardware of the healthcare system can meet the increasing future demand. Apart from providing more land, more room for development and more resources for hospitals, primary care and other healthcare infrastructure, there is also a need for making corresponding arrangements in training and in the supply of healthcare professionals.
The supplementary financing option was a key aspect which drew enthusiastic feedback from the public. Although some people claimed that the Government had attempted to shirk its responsibility and rob the people through financing arrangements, many people asked the Government to work out solutions before the problem got out of hand.
"After this round of discussions, there are a few key issues which we have to address in the next stage," Dr Chow said.
These include:
* The public wants to know clearly how the Government spends their health money, what services could be improved, what services would require financing in order to be sustained, and the Government's long-term commitment to healthcare.
* How individual citizens, employers and the Government contribute in a financing option which involves personal contribution, particularly when the three parties have already taken up a certain proportion of the current health expenditure. The public would also like to know how the Government will spend the $50 billion to kick start the healthcare financing reform.
* The public is very concerned about the kind of healthcare protection they could get by contributing to a financing option. For example, some people are concerned about whether private health insurance could bring better protection, or whether a government-run or managed insurance system could give them more confidence.
"Thanks to the valuable views given by the community, including legislators, District Council members, healthcare and professional bodies, and community and district bodies, we can find the direction for our future work.
"We hope to launch our second-stage consultation in the first half of next year," Dr Chow said.
The bureau had received more than 4,300 submissions from individuals and organisations. These included some 3,200 standard forms, 100 submissions from organisations and 1,000 submissions from individuals. A survey by questionnaire and focus group discussion are underway to collect more public opinion and views.
Ends/Friday, June 13, 2008
Issued at HKT 19:01
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