The government wants to pay for direct private primary care services for the elderly after some doctors were found to have raised fees on patients using HK$250-a-year health care vouchers.
Health officials are alarmed by the abuse, which saw some doctors increasing medical charges for elderly patients enrolled in the scheme.
The Food and Health Bureau is working on new measures to curb the abuse.
One idea is to pay for primary care services directly from private doctors.
'Some doctors have raised their fees on patients who use the vouchers,' a person familiar with the scheme said. 'As a result, the elderly cannot fully benefit from the government subsidy ... the vouchers are effectively shared between the patients and doctors.'
The person said the government would announce new conditions for the programme in two to three months, along with details of how the HK$1 billion, which Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has earmarked to expand the programme, would be used.
The three-year pilot scheme for people aged over 70 was launched in January 2009 to encourage patients to use private medical services and have a regular family doctor.
