New blood needed
The Hospital Authority was born in December 1990 and, in the last 21 years, we have changed Hong Kong's public hospital services from one that was criticised by many people to one that we are all proud of.
At a cost of less than 3per cent of Hong Kong's gross domestic product, we have a public health system that is the envy of many governments and health ministers around the world, and one that is appreciated by our patients and respected by the people of Hong Kong. We have indeed made very significant improvements in the last 21 years, but we must not be complacent. We must continue to improve ourselves.
No doubt I will be accused of being biased in making these statements. Of course I am. I am biased because I know how good a service we are providing to the people of Hong Kong with our limited resources; because I respect and appreciate the selfless contributions of our colleagues; and because our patient satisfaction survey conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong showed very encouraging results, with 80per cent of patients rating the care they had received as excellent, very good or good, while close to 90per cent of patients told us they have confidence and trust in our doctors and nurses.
When the Hospital Authority came into being, we had about 2,000 doctors and 16,000 nurses. Now we have over 5,000 doctors and 21,000 nurses. The government's funding has more than doubled over this period, to around HK$40billion this year.
Why then, you are going to ask, with the increase in the number of doctors and nurses and government funding, have you not been able to reduce some of the waiting time significantly? Why does the Hospital Authority still have a manpower shortage problem?
Why ... because we have 10 new hospitals and major extensions put into service in the last 21 years; because we have taken over the general out-patient services from the government since 2003; and, because we have an ageing population. Our population of those 65 years and above has jumped from about half a million in 1991 to almost a million today, and this figure will reach 1.2million in 2017. In Hong Kong, the number of elderly people seeking treatment in hospital is four times that of the non-elderly. The illnesses of elderly people are also more complex.
Let me give you some figures. In 2010, 1.3 beds were required for every 1,000 people under 65, whereas for those over 65, 11.8 beds were needed - nine times more. Last year, half our hospital bed-days were for the elderly.