Chan's medical bill could top $1m
THE late Canto-pop star Danny Chan Pak-keung's lengthy stay in a private ward at Queen Mary Hospital could cost his family more than $1 million.
Surprising as it may seem, this is relatively cheap.
The same 17-month period in a private hospital would probably have cost anything from $5 million to $18 million.
Chan died of brain stem failure on Monday, having been kept alive on an artificial respirator since collapsing on May 18 last year.
The figure of $1 million for Chan's treatment is calculated from the cost of a first class private bed in a public hospital - $2,055 per day.
This does not include charges for drugs and laboratory tests.
There are no figures available for the price of maintaining a patient in a coma, as doctors say the cost varies depending on the severity of the condition and the additional drugs and treatment needed.
However, the cost of maintaining a patient in an intensive care unit - which also involves the use of exp ensive technology and drugs - is understood to vary from $10,000 to $35,000 per day in a private hospital.
Public hospital patients needing intensive care are not charged extra - they just pay the basic general ward bed fee of $43 per day.
But those in first class private beds pay $2,055, while second class private fees are $1,370.
The real cost to the Hospital Authority is much higher than these figures - one doctor estimated it at between $6,000 and $8,000 per day.
