Apart from a husband or wife, you also need at least one more lifelong partner - a family doctor. That's the message the government wants to send out in the next few months in a bid to cut down on 'doctor shopping' in Hong Kong. But some doctors and patients-rights activists have questioned the use of the promotional drive, saying that patients will continue switching doctors frequently until there is reform to create financial incentives for them to stick to one. Patients can freely choose doctors in the private market. No referral letter from a primary care doctor is needed to see a private specialist. And with patients often changing doctors according to their employers' medical plans, it has been difficult to establish a family doctor system in Hong Kong. As part of its primary care reform, the government will launch the city's first Web-based primary care directory in April. It will carry information about the qualifications and experience of doctors and dentists providing services as the point of first contact for patients. The directory will also show whether these doctors have taken continuous medical education to refresh their skills and knowledge. Deputy Secretary for Food and Health Thomas Chan Chung-ching said family doctors are those who not only take care of immediate medical problems but also give advice on a range of issues such as stopping smoking and mental health. The head of the new primary care project, Dr Amy Chiu Pui-yin, said promotional activities would start in March and would include patient education, seminars and media promotions to push the family doctor concept. Posters will be put up at clinics with information about what a family doctor offers, such as continuity of care and co-ordination of referrals to specialists. Professor Cindy Lam Lo-kuen, head of family medicine at the University of Hong Kong, said both patients and doctors had to change their mindset. 'Specialists, for example, should ask their patients to submit the names of their family doctors so medical reports can be referred back to the family doctors. This is a simple step to take but can help remind patients that they do need a family doctor,' Lam said. In 2009 Lam's department interviewed more than 3,000 people and found that about two-thirds had one doctor as their first point of contact for treatment. But only one-third of all the respondents consulted their primary-care doctors for all their health needs before going to specialists. Lam said people with a fixed family doctor appeared in better health, exercised more preventive measures against ill health, had more check-ups and were less likely to smoke. Hong Kong Medical Association president Dr Choi Kin said the government promotional campaign would not be effective. 'As long as we don't have a system like the [National Health Service in the UK], patients will keep shopping around for doctors because they want choice as to how they spend their money. The NHS requires patients to see a fixed family doctor because the government controls the money. Hong Kong is totally different,' Choi said. He said financial incentives should be given to patients so they would stick to a family doctor. 'For example, the government can consider issuing health coupons to patients for health assessments twice a year at a fixed doctor, so they can establish a long-term relationship.' Choi said the government's soon-to-be-published directory of primary-care doctors might make doctor shopping even easier because patients could get more information. Patients Rights Association spokesman Tim Pang Hung-cheong welcomed the government effort to strengthen the gate-keeping role of family doctors. 'But it is very difficult to realise. In Hong Kong patients are used to a free choice of doctors,' Pang said. Meanwhile, the government will set up a HK$400 million community health care centre in northern Tin Shui Wai to provide 'moderately subsidised' support services for chronically ill patients referred by private doctors. The centre will be operated by the United Christian Nethersole charity group. The government plans to set up a centre in each of the 18 districts, to be run by non-governmental organisations.