PATIENTS could be charged up to $10 a minute for after-hours advice from their doctor under plans for Hong Kong's first 'live' information telephone line.
Interactive 173 numbers could be established this year if the Government gives the go-ahead.
But the service - where callers speak to someone instead of hearing a recorded message - would not be extended to allow Sexy Sadies or Stevens to offer live pornographic chats, Hongkong Telecom said.
The service was likely to be available for patients to call their doctors or companies for professional advice, such as computer problems.
Hong Kong Medical Association chief executive Yvonne Leung Yuet-mei defended the idea of patients paying to speak to their doctors on the phone, saying that 'after hours the doctor has every right to charge'.
Some of the revenue goes to the information provider - in this case the doctor or company - and some to Hongkong Telecom.
