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Chris Yeung

Gone are the days when Hong Kong could afford to provide cheap, if not free, public medical services for both rich and poor.

The belated decision to take the first - albeit modest - step to raise public medical fees is aimed at placing a greater emphasis on sharing the responsibility of financing public services.

Except for a small number of poverty-stricken people, the bulk of the populace will be asked to pay their share of keeping public health services sustainable.

A senior government source said last night: 'Each sector has to make a contribution. The exact share will be determined in accordance with the circumstances of different people.'

A fee scale tied to income has not been ruled out, he said.

While the community agrees on the need to help those in genuine need, there is bound to be debate about where to draw the line.

This is probably the reason why the government has yet to come up with details of its waiver system.

Thanks to the runaway budget deficit, however, people now have a stronger sense of crisis over the need for greater fiscal discipline and rationality in the use of taxpayers' money.

The grim deficit aside, the public has generally accepted the government's argument that the new charges will help to reduce abuses of accident and emergency services. Compared with the total cost and quality of service, many people felt that fees in the past for in-patient services had been too low.

The increase in some fees - such as those for general beds - may be high in percentage terms but are likely to be accepted by most people as modest, especially given the charges are small when compared with the actual cost of providing the services.

With unemployment remaining high and Hongkongers suffering a drop in income, the government source admitted that it was not a particularly good time to raise fees. The Executive Council is also alert to the political fallout of policies that might trigger strong public opposition.

However, the Tung team feels confident of winning over the public with the small increases as it prepares for its next big battle - bringing down the budget deficit.

YEUNGGWK



Fee hike is a necessary evil in time of shared responsibility