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Following is a question by the Hon Chan Yuen-han and a reply by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

With regard to the protection of patients' rights, will the Government inform this Council whether it has plans to :

(a) introduce legislation requiring all medical services providers to issue to their patients receipts with details of the charges; and

(b) conduct a study on the introduction into Hong Kong the system of "separation of prescribing and dispensing" across-the-board; if it has such plan, the time-table of that; if not, the reasons for that?

Answer:

Madam President,

(a) At present, the Hospital Authority issues payment receipts to its patients based on the services it has provided. In the private sector, following the advice in "the Guide to Hospital Standards" as endorsed by the then Medical Development Advisory Committee, all private hospitals should provide payment receipts to their clients, with details on individual items shown in the receipts. On out-patient services, as a general practice, private practitioners would, on request, issue receipts to clients as proof of payment. Details on items charged may also be provided.

At present, there does not appear to be a serious problem regarding the issue of receipts, or the details of the charges, by medical services providers to their patients. We do not consider it necessary at present to provide legislation to enforce this requirement. Should the situation become unsatisfactory, we will consider ways for improvement and shall discuss the issue with the medical service profession.

(b) The public medical sector has already practised the system of "separation of prescribing and dispensing". Under the present arrangement, public doctors, after consultation, issue prescriptions to the patients, who then obtain their medicines from the pharmacists and dispensers. The pharmacists and dispensers also provide the patients with drug counselling services. In the private sector, the present one-stop arrangement, whereby the medical practitioners provide medicines directly to the patients, has also worked well for Hong Kong for many years. This arrangement provides convenience to the patients and caters for situations where the immediate use of medicines is necessary. On the other hand, patients at present have the right to choose not to obtain the medicines from their doctors if they so wish. Instead, they may request doctors to issue prescriptions and have the prescriptions filled by pharmacists. The current system provides patients with the freedom to choose the method that best suits their needs.

END/Wednesday, May 5, 1999

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