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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) launched a mobile application "BookHA" today (March 8) to provide gynaecology patients with an additional and more convenient means of making new case bookings at public Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOPC), apart from coming to the clinics in person or sending in an application by facsimile.
The HA spokesman said that new case booking applications for gynaecology patients can now be made any time and anywhere with smartphones. "Through a three-step process, the applicants can input their personal data, choose the clinic and complete the application with snapshots of their identity documents, residential address and referral letters with the built-in camera under a secured environment."
"A Short Message Service (SMS) text message will be sent to the registered telephone number to acknowledge the receipt of booking application and for future enquiry reference. SMS notification of the appointment date will also be sent directly to the same telephone number. For urgent consultations with appointment dates within 14 days, notification will be made via telephone in addition to SMS."
Patients can also make use of the app to check the progress of their application and the appointment date, alongside other useful SOPC information including address, telephone numbers and waiting time.
The spokesman said gynaecology patients could continue to adopt the current means to make a booking in person or by facsimile, as in other specialties. "Patients being referred to HA for specialist consultation can go to the specialist outpatient clinic of their choice in person for appointment booking, bringing along their Hong Kong Identity Card or valid identity document, referral letter issued by a local registered medical practitioner in the last three months and information on residential address."
The new app is launched first in gynaecology service where there are around 60,000 new case bookings in the 14 gynaecology SOPCs of HA each year. The app will be rolled out in phases to other specialties in the coming three years.
BookHA can be downloaded free of charge from the Apple App Store (supports iOS version 7.0 or above) or Google Play (supports Android version 4.1 or above) and it is available in traditional Chinese and English.
Ends/Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Issued at HKT 11:10
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