Trained workers organising play for child patients are not essential, the Hospital Authority says.
The Playright Children's Playground Association, a voluntary organisation, claims children in hospital are being neglected because public hospitals do not have professional playworkers.
But the authority said it was not cost-effective to have such specialised staff because occupational therapists played with young patients.
The association said trained playworkers were mandatory in hospitals in many countries, including Australia, the United States and Britain. The workers were considered essential for the psycho-social needs of young patients, the group said.
But Leung Kwok-fai, chief of the Occupational Therapy Department at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said one of the hospital's six occupational therapists was responsible for playing games with children and nurses and volunteers helped out.
Mr Leung said occupational therapists were as good as trained playworkers and were trained to lead group activities.