'There will be no such uniform packages. Each hospital has a different environment, doctors, equipment and technology. We cannot have a uniform situation,' he said.

Data had been collected on the price range for the operations at the private hospitals and would be published with the findings of a Hong Kong Medical Association survey on private doctors' fees, Dr Li said.

'So, if a patient goes to a doctor and says 'I want to have an operation', the doctor will give his quote on his fee, how much the operation would cost and the hospitalisation,' he said.

'The patient can then make a comparison if the doctor's charges are on the low or high side or if the hospital is giving a good deal,' said Dr Li, who is also deputy medical superintendent of the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital in Happy Valley.

On Thursday, Union Hospital announced set-price operations, a first for a private hospital because the costs include surgeons' and anaesthetists' fees.

Dr David Fang Jin-sheng, medical superintendent of St Paul's Hospital in Causeway Bay, agreed that private hospitals should not form a price-fixing 'cartel' as it would not be healthy competition.

He said private hospitals would have no choice but to offer 'reasonable packages' especially with government plans to improve private-public hospital links to encourage public patients to seek private medical care.

Matilda International Hospital on The Peak said it had offered a range of surgical operations to cover about 50 of the most frequently performed procedures since 1996. However, these did not include doctors' fees.

'All doctors and anaesthetists are private practitioners practising independently of the hospital and its administration,' said spokeswoman Linda Burgoyne.

Dr Tsang Chin-wah, medical superintendent of Baptist Hospital in Kowloon, said his hospital was adopting a wait-and-see attitude.

'The good point about packages is the patient can have an estimate. But then there are variations to every operation,' he said.

The two Adventist Hospitals in Mid-Levels and Tsuen Wan were developing packages but would not take part in any uniform fee package, said Jeremy Low Keng-hoong, director of marketing.

Legislator Dr Lo Wing-lok, representing the medical sector, said he was concerned fee packages would lead to 'cut-throat competition and will drive private hospitals out of business'.