HONG KONG: Public consultation on medical finance reforms has been put on hold because of the outbreak of A (H1N1) flu in the city, Secretary for Food and Health York Chow said yesterday.

Staff have more pressing matters to attend. Speaking at the Legislative Council, Chow said the most important task before the bureau is to handle the flu outbreak.

"An adjustment to our manpower deployment is therefore inevitable," he said. "As many areas of work are involved in the fight against human swine flu, most of the staff in the bureau are required to assist in the co-ordination work."

The co-ordination work includes providing secretarial support for the emergency response steering committee, giving assistance to other bureaux relating to quarantine measures, operation of quarantine camps and formulation of a vaccination program.

The government has no plan to lower the flu alert level under present circumstances with the number of local human swine flu cases increasing, Chow said. Even though the city had no deaths from the virus, the city should remain vigilant, he added.

The government originally planned to launch the second round of public consultation on medical reform during the first half of the year. Six health-care financing options were dismissed at the first round of consultations, including mandatory savings and insurance.

"We are still studying and formulating detailed proposals on healthcare reform and the supplementary financing arrangements to prepare for the second stage of public consultation. However, the timetable for the consultation has to be deferred," Chow said.

He added that the bureau aims to finalize proposals before the end of the year. The question of when the consultations will be launched depends on progress of the work and the socio-economic situation.

Chow stressed that the medical reform consultation is the only area of the bureau's work that needs to be postponed because of the human swine flu outbreak.

The government will increase its healthcare expenditure to 17 percent of total recurrent expenditures by the 2011-12 fiscal year as pledged.

A series of pilot projects will be launched at the end of this year to enhance primary healthcare and strengthen the support for chronic disease management.

(HK Edition 06/18/2009 page1)