Make patients happy by keeping medics
THE Clearwater Bay community is not typical of Hong Kong. There are a large number of English-speaking expatriate families. We are fortunate in many ways, not least in the standard of medical care we receive from two part-time doctors who run the Anderson and Partners Health Centre at Silverstrand.
They may be part-time in terms of their contracts but they are full-time in the level of professional care they offer. The clinic in Silverstrand is used primarily, though not exclusively, by English-speaking mothers and children. The two doctors are English-speaking expatriate mothers. They have children in our kindergartens and schools, they are involved in the community and they are aware of the pressures on wives and families of men who are away from home a lot.
These doctors are ideally qualified, not just medically, to care for this community. Having two doctors means we have a choice of who we see and because they are part-time they spend more of their lives in the real world.
A lot of people are signing a petition at Silverstrand asking why these doctors are being replaced by one full-time doctor. Perhaps it is 'more cost effective'.
Since we all pay dearly for this private health care we should have some say in the matter. It is indefensible that these doctors should be replaced for economic reasons.
If the senior partners at Andersons are entering a new era of commercially-driven service delivery, then they need to swallow a bitter economic pill. Patients are 'customers' and even sick customers can take up their beds and walk.
STEPHANIE KUMARIA Clearwater Bay
