The Hospital Authority is spending HK$4.5 million to shorten the queue for surgery for patients with enlarged prostates, some of whom have been waiting up to three years for treatment.
Doctors said the queue had grown over the past couple of years and might affect the quality of service in other sections of the health system if the problem was not addressed.
Under the scheme, the government will give one-off funding to the authority to provide surgery for 330 patients with benign problems.
The money will allow the authority to pay doctors' overtime to carry out the surgery. The patients will have their operations by the first quarter of next year. It is hoped the scheme will cut waiting times to two to three months.
According to Man Chi-wai, a urologist at Tuen Mun Hospital, public hospitals conduct about 2,000 such operations a year.
But with 10,000 new patients a year, there are about 330 patients with more serious symptoms waiting for surgery.
An enlarged prostate can result in an inability to urinate. It is treated by drugs or surgery.