Boards and Committees
Legislative Council Panel on Health Services
2018 Policy Address
Policy Initiatives of the Food and Health Bureau
(Paragraphs on development of Chinese medicine)
(c) Development of Chinese Medicine
19. As committed in the Chief Executive’s Policy Address in 2017, dedicated teams, namely, the Chinese Medicine Unit and the Chinese Medicine Hospital Project Office have been set up under the Food and Health Bureau to implement strategies and measures for promoting the development of Chinese medicine (“CM”) and spearheading the development of the first Chinese medicine hospital (“CMH”). To acknowledge the long history and popular use of CM among local community, the Government will incorporate CM into the healthcare system in Hong Kong and implement a development framework with enhanced commitments to provide subsidised defined CM services as in the following –
| (a) | a combination of in- and out-patient services offered by the future CMH; |
| (b) | CM out-patient services in 18 Chinese Medicine Centres for Training and Research (“CMCTRs”) at district level; and |
| (c) | in-patient services with integrated Chinese-Western medicine (“ICWM”) treatment in defined public hospitals. |
Chinese Medicine Hospital
20. On the development of the CMH, it would be the flagship CM institution leading the development of CM services and CM drugs in Hong Kong. Owned and built by the Government, the CMH would house about 400 beds offering a combination of in- and out-patient CM services. The hospital would be tasked to provide quality CM services and a platform for the training and education of CM practitioners, and for promoting CM clinical research. The CMH should also execute and implement the Government’s policies on CM and enhance the status of CM in and outside of Hong Kong. The Government would provide recurrent funding for its defined CM services, training and research. The CMH would also be allowed to flexibly invest in and offer add-on market-oriented CM services. The Government will identify, through competitive bidding process, a suitable non-profit-making organisation to operate the hospital. The CMH is expected to commence operation by phases from late 2024.
18 Chinese Medicine Clinics at District Level
21. The 18 CMCTRs will be transformed with enhanced services to offer Government-subsidised out-patient services at district level. They will provide around 600 000 quota of subsidised defined out-patient CM services each year in addition to their original functions to provide CM related training, teaching and research. The standard fee for CM general consultation service would be $120, inclusive of consultation fee and at least two doses of CM drugs. The Government will also provide subsidy for additional services such as tui-na and acupuncture as prescribed by the CM practitioners so that fees for these services will be reduced to $120 per visit. In addition, the Government will provide funding to improve remuneration of the CM practitioners in CM clinics and enhance training opportunities for them.
Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine
22. For ICWM services provided in defined Hospital Authority (“HA”) hospitals, currently, seven HA hospitals are offering such services in four disease areas (i.e. stroke care, cancer palliative care, acute low back pain care and shoulder and neck pain care). Participating patients have to pay $200 per day for CM services on top of the $100 to $120 per day for hospital stay. The Government will increase subsidy to reduce the additional daily fee for ICWM services from $200 to $120 per day so as to encourage more patient participation. HA will also develop and expand the services further in terms of disease areas and coverage in settings.
23. It is envisaged that with the implementation of the above development framework, a comprehensive CM regime will be in place to spearhead the development of CM in Hong Kong, enhance the professional standard of CM sector and provide an effective platform for nurturing CM talents as well as professional training, education and research for CM.
Chinese Medicine Development Fund
24. In addition, the Government has established a dedicated CM Development Fund of $500 million to promote the development of CM. The fund will be used to provide support in areas such as applied research, CM specialisation, knowledge exchange and cross-market co-operation, and help local CM traders with the production and registration of Chinese proprietary medicines. We have worked out the relevant funding details and will consult the CM sector further. The dedicated fund will commence operation in the first half of 2019.
Electronic Health Record Sharing
25. To cater for the development of Chinese medicine, we will include Chinese medicine information in the sharable scope in the Stage 2 Development of the Electronic Health Record Sharing System, continue to standardise clinical and medical terminologies of Chinese medicine, and develop the Chinese Medicine Information System On-ramp so as to facilitate the access to and sharing of patients’ information by the Chinese medicine practitioners who choose to use the system in the future.
Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute and the Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards
26. As part of the CM development, the Government will continue to plan for the construction of a Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute building, and compile the Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards for Chinese materia medica commonly used in Hong Kong and actively conduct the pilot study to set standards for Chinese medicines decoction pieces under the Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards Project.