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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
A ceremony was held today (September 19) by the Hospital Authority (HA) to mark the successful and smooth launching of two Public-Private Partnership programmes - the ¡§Cataract Surgeries Programme¡¨ and the ¡§Tin Shui Wai Primary Care Partnership Programme¡¨ in February and June this year respectively.
The Public-Private Partnership Promotion Campaign ceremony was officiated by the Permanent Secretary for Food and Health (Health), Ms Sandra Lee, and the HA Chairman, Mr Anthony Wu. They were joined by the participating eye specialists and general practitioners as well as patients of the two programmes.
Addressing the ceremony, Ms Sandra Lee said, ¡§The Cataract Surgeries Programme and the Tin Shui Wai Primary Care Partnership Programme are pilots of our plan to purchase health care services from the private sector. These programmes will help reduce waiting time in the public sector as well as enhance quality in general-outpatient clinic and eye services. Through the pilot programmes, we are also able to explore the feasibility of different modes of collaboration between the public and private sectors.
¡§It is encouraging to see that the two programmes have won the support of our community partners and the general public. In moving forward, we will further study extending our collaboration with the private sector after reviewing the outcome of these pilot partnership programmes. The programmes we see today will definitely become the springboard for future development of quality health care for the community.¡¨
Also speaking at the ceremony, Mr Anthony Wu said,¡§HA has all along been in full support of Government¡¦s direction in promoting public-private partnership. The ¡¥Cateract Surgeries Programme¡¦ and ¡¥Tin Shui Wai Programme¡¦ launched earlier this year are making good progress, and have received positive feedback from participating private practitioners and patients. The HA will exert continuous efforts to work with the Government on future partnership programmes.¡¨
The Cataract Surgeries Programme, rolled out in February this year, is a one-off programme with funding of $40 million allocated by the Government. It offers a fixed subsidy of $5,000 to patients who choose to receive treatment from private ophthalmologists, subject to a co-payment of not more than $8,000. In the past seven months, there were 75 private ophthalmologists and 2,247 patients enrolled in the programme, of which 90% have chosen to have their surgery in the private sector and about 10% are Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients or Full Waiver Certificate Holders who have chosen to have surgery in HA hospitals after normal clinic hours. So far, 1,332 patients have undergone surgery and regained their eyesight under this programme.
On September 5, the HA issued the third batch of invitation letters to about 4,700 patients who have registered on the routine waiting list where the wait is between two years three months and three years. A number of patient forums will be arranged for detailed explanation of the programme and on-site registration. Meanwhile, the HA has set up a programme hotline at 2300 6600 and webpage, www.ha.org.hk/ppi/cataract, for public and patients¡¦reference.
Another partnership project, the ¡§Tin Shui Wai Primary Care Partnership Programme¡¨, launched in June this year, is entering into the second phase. So far, a total of 539 patients and six private doctors practising in Tin Shui Wai have enrolled.
Under the programme, the HA purchases primary care services from the district's private doctors who are willing to participate in the programme to provide medical consultation to patients who have been regularly attending the public general outpatient clinics for chronic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes and osteoarthritis.
When the participating patient visits a private doctor who has joined the programme, the patient should pay the private doctor the same fee as charged by the general outpatient clinic (ie $45 per attendance inclusive of drugs). The participating doctor will receive a total of $150 for each consultation which includes the patient fee and subsidies from the programme. Drugs for chronic illnesses and the necessary clinical examinations will be provided by the HA. The HA will arrange for the drugs for chronic illnesses to be delivered to the clinics of participating doctors in advance for direct prescription. There is no need for participating patients to collect their drugs at the public general outpatient clinic.
HA has set up a help desk and a telephone hotline 2616 4856 at Tin Shui Wai Health Centre to answer queries from the public, patients and private doctors on details of the programme and also to provide support to those who have participated in the programme. A review will be conducted in a year to assess the effectiveness of the programme.
Ends/Friday, September 19, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:11
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