Press Releases
Community actively expresses views in second stage public consultation on healthcare reform
The second stage public consultation on healthcare reform ended today
(January 7). As at 5pm today, the Government has received about 500
submissions from individuals and organisations. Members of the public
actively expressed views on the direction of healthcare reform and the
details of the proposed voluntary Health Protection Scheme (HPS) during the
three-month consultation period.
A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said: "Generally speaking, the
community shares the Government's vision of maintaining the public
healthcare system as a safety net while reforming the private healthcare
market. It also concurs with the principle, i.e. voluntary and
government-regulated, and the design of the proposed HPS. A survey
commissioned by the Government during the consultation period reveals that
more than 60% of the respondents supported the implementation of the
voluntary HPS.
"In addition, there is also general support of the Government reforming the
private health insurance market, which provides coverage to about 2.5
million citizens."
For public healthcare services, there is consensus among the submissions
that public healthcare system should continue to be a safety net for the
whole community. The Government has been increasing its health expenditure
as well as strengthening and improving public healthcare services. The
spokesman stressed that, while reforming the private healthcare service
market, the Government would only increase but not reduce its commitment to
public healthcare. The Government would continue to implement various
reforms on public healthcare services, including enhancing primary care and
developing electronic health record sharing.
On the operation details of HPS, views were expressed on how to ensure that
the fee schedules were reasonable, and that private healthcare services were
of high quality and value for money. Apart from enhancing supervision,
market competition and transparency, there were views that the Government
should have a role to play to ensure service quality and reasonable pricing.
"These concerns are well noted. We trust that legislative backing,
appropriate supervision and transparent packaged charging which provides
clearly priced healthcare services for the public are of vital importance to
the implementation of HPS," the spokesman said.
Regarding service and manpower planning of the whole healthcare system, some
respondents pointed out that private healthcare capacity and overall
manpower supply in healthcare service sector should keep abreast with
demand, together with adequate supply of affordable services based on
packaged charging. The spokesman said the Government would see to it that
healthcare manpower planning would be properly formulated, make sites
available for development of new private hospitals, and increase healthcare
services capacity and manpower. These would enhance market competition and
transparency so as to provide the public with value-for-money healthcare
services.
In addition, the spokesman pointed out that the Government received
different views on how to make the best use of the $50 billion from the
fiscal reserve to support HPS. The spokesman said the Government had an
open-minded position, subject to the overriding principle of benefiting the
community and ensuring access to sustainable healthcare protection. He
stressed that the Government would give careful consideration to views
collected from various sectors of the community before deciding on the way
forward.
"Looking ahead, the Government will carefully consider how to address the
views received from members of the public and different organisations. With
the consultation exercise drawing to a close, we will collate and analyse
these views. A report setting out the way forward will be released in due
course," the spokesman added.
The Food and Health Bureau published the consultation document entitled "My
Health My Choice" on October 6 last year, under which a government-regulated
HPS, aiming at enhancing the long-term sustainability of the healthcare
system, was proposed for pubic consultation. During the consultation, the
Government held two community forums to canvass the views of the general
public. Officials of the Food and Health Bureau also attended more than 80
forums organised by outside parties which took different forms and targeted
audiences from a variety of backgrounds (including the relevant Legislative
Council Panel, all District Councils, the concerned trades and a host of
stakeholders), which provided opportunities for in-depth discussions.
Ends/Friday, January 7, 2011
Issued at HKT 21:00
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