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Opinion

How to stop the bargain hunters crowding out Hong Kong’s hospital emergency rooms

Feng Chi-shun says the city needs a long-term strategy to stop abuse of the system, such as inflation-linked fee hikes for all services and walk-in clinics, rather than a piecemeal approach

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Patients wait to be seen at the accident and emergency department in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Kowloon, last March. Photo: Sam Tsang
Feng Chi-shun

Raising fees for each visit to public emergency rooms in Hong Kong hospitals, from HK$100 to HK$220, will discourage abuse and reduce the waiting time for patients with real emergencies. Raising it to HK$320 would work even better.

The people of Hong Kong, although generally impatient, will wait patiently for bargains. That’s why we see long queues to buy promotional merchandise, commemorative banknotes, limited edition toys from fast food chains, or any deal where they can turn a quick profit on by reselling.
Our public hospital emergency room service is too good a bargain to pass up. For a nominal fee, one gets a doctor’s consultation, and treatment which may include X-rays, lab tests, medicine and a specialist referral, as well as a sick-leave certificate. It would add up to thousands of dollars in a private health care facility.

Inside Hong Kong’s public hospital crisis: temporary beds, angry patients, nurses and doctors stretched to breaking point

When the emergency room service was free, many years ago, it was abused even more than today.

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There were cases of teenagers who went there after school to have their pimples examined, so they could obtain their monthly supply of anti-acne lotion and medication (I am not making it up).

By 2002, the number of annual emergency room visits stood at 2.3 million, and the workload was insurmountable. That was when the Hospital Authority decided to introduce a charge of HK$100 per visit.
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Elderly Hongkongers protest outside the government headquarters against the proposed introduction of consultation fees at the accident and emergency departments of public hospitals, and a scheme requiring patients to pay for certain drugs at public clinics, in September 2002. Photo: David Wong
Elderly Hongkongers protest outside the government headquarters against the proposed introduction of consultation fees at the accident and emergency departments of public hospitals, and a scheme requiring patients to pay for certain drugs at public clinics, in September 2002. Photo: David Wong

Doctors raise doubts over plans to more than double Hong Kong emergency ward fees

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