The Government announced today (October 28) that the Special Support Scheme (the Scheme) for chronic disease patients of the Hospital Authority (HA) residing in Guangdong Province will continue until May 9 next year. An additional RMB1,000 subsidy will be granted to each patient at the same time, enabling the patients concerned to continue receiving subsidised medical consultation at the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKU-SZH) under the COVID-19 epidemic.
      
     Due to the compulsory quarantine measures implemented during the epidemic, some Hong Kong residents staying in Guangdong Province are unable to travel back and forth between Hong Kong and the Mainland for scheduled medical consultations at the outpatient clinics under the HA as they used to. To ensure that the health conditions of these patients can be effectively monitored and taken care of in a continued and co-ordinated manner, the Government launched the Scheme in November 2020 and extended thrice the Scheme, which was originally scheduled to end on July 31 last year, to November 9 this year to commission HKU-SZH in providing subsidised follow-up consultations for patients with scheduled appointments at designated Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOPC) or General Outpatient Clinics (GOPC) under the HA. As of August 31, HKU-SZH has scheduled about 53 660 medical appointments for eligible patients. About 45 600 attendances have received medical consultations.
      
     Given that the compulsory quarantine measures in the Mainland are yet to be relaxed completely, the Government will further extend the Scheme for six months to May 9 next year. Eligible persons may continue to receive medical consultations at HKU-SZH before such date, or until the lapse of relevant quarantine requirement (whichever is earlier).
      
     According to the prevailing Scheme arrangement, eligible patients under the Scheme are required to co-pay a consultation fee of RMB100 for each visit to designated outpatient service at HKU-SZH (except for specified persons whose medical fees would be waived upon verification by the HA). The rest of the medical fees are subsidised under the Scheme subject to a cap per patient. In light of further extension of the Scheme, the total subsidy and subsidy cap will be adjusted as follows with effect from November 10:
      

Eligible patient	Total subsidy and subsidy cap
Eligible patients who had submitted a valid application before November 10, 2021, and have the application subsequently verified	An additional RMB1,000 subsidy be provided on top of the original RMB2,000 subsidy and RMB2,000 top-up subsidy provided earlier (in November 2021 and in May 2022 respectively), thus a total subsidy cap of RMB5,000
Eligible patients who had submitted a valid application during the period from November 10, 2021 to May 9, 2022, and have the application subsequently verified	An additional RMB1,000 subsidy be provided on top of the original RMB1,000 subsidy and RMB1,000 top-up subsidy provided earlier (in May 2022), thus a total subsidy cap of RMB3,000
Eligible patients who submit a valid application during the period from May 10 to November 9, 2022, and have the application subsequently verified	An additional RMB1,000 subsidy be provided on top of the original RMB1,000 subsidy, thus a total subsidy cap of RMB2,000
Eligible patients who submit a valid application on or after November 10, 2022, and have the application subsequently verified	RMB1,000 subsidy

     HA patients who have their follow-up appointments at the HA's SOPC or GOPC scheduled between February 17, 2020, and May 9 next year may submit application to HKU-SZH along with the required supporting documents. The subsidised scope of service under the Scheme will remain unchanged, covering the majority of SOPC and GOPC services provided by the HA, namely anaesthesiology (pain clinic only); cardiothoracic surgery; clinical oncology; ear, nose and throat; eye; gynecology; medicine; neurosurgery; obstetrics; orthopaedics and traumatology; paediatrics, and surgery. Episodic illnesses, inpatient or day inpatient, and Accident and Emergency Department services are not included.
      
     Details of the Scheme are available on the HA's website (www.ha.org.hk/goto/sss/en) or HKU-SZH's website (www.hku-szh.org/en/index.html). For enquiries, please call the HA (Tel: 2300 7070) between 9am and 6pm from Mondays to Fridays, excluding public holidays, or HKU-SZH (Tel: (+86) 0755-86913101) from 8am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 5.30pm from Mondays to Fridays, excluding public holidays.

Ends/Friday, October 28, 2022
Issued at HKT 11:30

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