Secretary for Health chairs 21st meeting of Steering Committee on Primary Healthcare Development (with photos)
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Professor Lo said, "As President Xi Jinping said during his visit to a Mainland healthcare institution last year, 'Health is the most important indicator of people's happiness. Health is the prerequisite; without health, everything else is meaningless'. At present, Hong Kong's health indicators, such as life expectancy, all ranked top in the world, but we must not thus underestimate the challenges ahead, including an ageing population and the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases.
"The Government is committed to establishing a primary healthcare system that can boost the overall health conditions and quality of living of all citizens. In the face of the grave challenges posed by surging demand for healthcare services, we have been reforming our healthcare structure actively in recent years in a bid to shift the culture of treatment-oriented healthcare to prevention-focused, and also strive to develop and enhance primary healthcare. As such, I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the Steering Committee for their invaluable views and efforts all along to drive the development of primary healthcare, which is crucial to the future of Hong Kong."
At the meeting, members also discussed the latest developments of primary healthcare:
Primary Healthcare Blueprint
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Under the leadership of the Steering Committee, the Government has completed the formulation of a primary healthcare blueprint and proposed a series of reform measures to further strengthen Hong Kong's primary healthcare services and relieve the pressure on the public healthcare system. Specific policy directions and key areas can be summarised as the following five recommendations: (1) establishing a district-based, family-oriented primary healthcare system in the community; (2) strengthening management of primary healthcare services; (3) consolidating primary healthcare resources; (4) reinforcing manpower planning and training of primary healthcare personnel; and (5) enhancing surveillance of diseases and sharing of health records.
District Health Centres
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The Government is dedicated to strengthening district-based primary healthcare services. District Health Centres (DHCs) and DHC Expresses serve as an important hardware for fostering the collaboration of primary healthcare services. Each DHC and DHC Express works with healthcare professionals of various disciplines in their district through medical-social collaboration and public-private partnership, thus enhancing co-ordination among healthcare and social service sectors as well as establishing a community healthcare network which suits the district the most. These enable individuals, families and communities to prevent diseases and manage their own personal health conditions in a more effective manner, thereby reducing unnecessary hospitalisation.
To date, DHCs or DHC Expresses have their services covering 15 districts in the city, and the services will be extended to the remaining three districts, namely Yuen Long, Southern District and Tsuen Wan, within the next few months. In other words, citizens in all 18 districts in Hong Kong will benefit from the services within this year. DHCs and DHC Expresses are supported by multi-disciplinary professional teams comprising nurses, allied health professionals, social workers, support staff, and more, with networks connecting family doctors, Chinese medicine practitioners and allied health professionals in their own districts to offer various primary healthcare services to members of the public. Moreover, DHCs and DHC Expresses co-operate with the seven clusters of the Hospital Authority on referral of suitable cases so as to properly manage chronic diseases and support community rehabilitation at the primary healthcare level. For more details on DHCs, please refer to www.dhc.gov.hk.
Professor Lo said, "From the perspective of public health, the Health Bureau will strive to reform Hong Kong's healthcare system and promote prevention-focused primary healthcare, with a view to improving the overall health conditions of the citizens as well as alleviating the pressure on the public hospitals. We will also continue to formulate a series of policies through legislation and provision of appropriate services and supporting facilities in order to foster and develop the city as a 'Healthy Hong Kong'."
Professor Lo also appealed to the public for making good use of various services provided by DHCs and DHC Expresses to achieve "A Healthy Start" by taking a preventive approach to safeguard their own health.
Chaired by the Secretary for Health, the Steering Committee was set up in November 2017 to formulate strategies on the development of primary healthcare services and advise on primary healthcare development with regard to aspects such as manpower and infrastructural planning, collaboration model, community engagement, planning and evaluation framework, as well as formulation of strategies.
Ends/Monday, August 29, 2022
Issued at HKT 20:12
Issued at HKT 20:12
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