Private cases bad for us, say public patients
More than 60 per cent of public patients worry that the private services provided by university staff at Hong Kong's two teaching hospitals will prolong their waiting time for medical services, according to a survey.
Medical sector legislator Kwok Ka-ki polled 158 public patients and 159 private doctors on their views about private services at the Queen Mary and Prince of Wales hospitals.
Sixty-two per cent of the patients were worried that private cases in the public hospitals would prolong their wait for services, and 55 per cent thought private cases would reduce their chances of being treated by the medical professors.
Sixty per cent of the patients and 81 per cent of the doctors opposed the professors pocketing part of the income from private cases.
The University of Hong Kong and Chinese University allow their medical professors to see patients in the teaching hospitals for two four-hour sessions every week. The Hospital Authority and the universities share the income from these cases, with a portion also going to the professors.
'The professors already earn good salaries from the public pocket. They are supposed to put their best efforts into training students, conducting research and treating public patients,' Dr Kwok said.
The legislator does not directly oppose providing private services in public hospitals because he agrees patients should have a wider variety of choice. But he said the scope of private services should be limited to a few complicated treatments available only in the private market.
He suggested that the Hospital Authority use the income from private patients to hire more part-time doctors and that the universities ban the professors from pocketing any of the proceeds.
