A move towards corporate medicine - where clinics are bought by businesses - was described as 'profiteering' at the expense of patients' needs by medical legislator Dr Leong Che-hung yesterday.
Although only a handful of Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) operate in the SAR, the trend needs government regulation, he said.
'I would like to see a proper medical incorporation bill, specifying that directors must be health-care professionals themselves,' he said.
The intrusion of 'businessmen-oriented profiteering HMOs' could lead to a deterioration of health care because doctors had to put costs before specialist and expensive treatment, he said.
'If a doctor wants to do a specialist task, he needs permission from the HMO,' Dr Leong said.
Unlike physicians, HMOs are not legally responsible when their actions cause injury or death to a patient.
