Hong Kong residents migrating north for better healthcare

City's stressed system

Hong Kong patients have been struggling to get adequate medical services in local public hospitals as insufficient resources have led to prolonged waits of up to several years.

In specialist outpatient clinics, a triage system is implemented to ensure that patients needing urgent treatment are given priority. New patients are classified into urgent, semi-urgent, and stable categories.

For patients classified as in a stable condition, the medium waiting time for surgery is 26 to 59 weeks, while those classified as urgent wait less than a week.

The lengthy waiting times for some patients have forced many of them to turn to private hospitals, but the high prices they charge are prohibitive for the majority.

Hong Kong's public healthcare system boasts some of the most generous subsidies in the world, with the local government bearing roughly 95 percent of inpatient and clinical expenses. General consultations at public hospitals are HK$50($6.40) and specialist consultation fees HK$80 for non-first-time local patients, according to official health data. Inpatient service costs are HK$100 to HK$120 per day.

By comparison, medical costs in private hospitals are staggeringly expensive.

A Hong Kong woman, who asked to be identified as Miss Chan, said she went to a Shenzhen hospital for a gastroscopy, which cost her less than 1,000 yuan ($140). The cost of the same examination in a Hong Kong private hospital could be 10 times higher, she said.

"Going north for medical treatment has become a new trend to fulfill medical needs in an affordable and high-quality way," said Wong Kwok, chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions and a member of the city's Legislative Council.

"Just like the recent upsurge of Hong Kong people going to Shenzhen for meals, goods and services, cross-border medical cooperation is an obvious trend, and the idea of 'welfare portability' should be strengthened and accelerated."