Hong Kong government tells patients to use private doctors while public hospitals are full

People waiting for emergency services in less serious conditions will be advised to go to private clinics under the government’s new public-private partnership, aimed at addressing overcrowding at public hospitals.

The Medical Association, the city’s largest doctors’ group, also plans to send letters to private doctors urging them to work part-time at the overcrowded public hospitals despite the low pay.

Public hospitals have struggled through unprecedented demand driven by widespread flu during the winter and the persisting cold weather.

Latest Hospital Authority figures showed the overall occupancy rate of hospital beds dropped slightly from 111 per cent on Wednesday to 106 per cent on Thursday. Most hospitals still have their wards filled at over 100 per cent, meaning all the beds are full, with temporary beds laid out in between and along the corridors.

The number of patients at all A&E wards has dropped from a peak of over 7,000 daily to 4,761 on Thursday – just within the normal level.

Dr Ho Pak-leung, a University of Hong Kong microbiologist and former president for Public Doctors’ Association, praised the new measure but criticised the authority for doing too little too late.

“I believe patients who would queue at the A&E units are those who could not afford the private clinics,” Ho said.