More than money is needed to solve Hong Kong’s health care problems
- Carrie Lam’s extra HK$500 million for the Hospital Authority will be welcomed but allocating it is not as simple as moving money from one pocket to another
- The manpower shortage in the hospital sector could be solved by hiring overseas personnel but where to hire from is another political question still
Any problem that money can resolve is not a problem, the saying goes, and it is something our cash-rich government used to believe in.
But now the government is realising that money is not everything, as it faces a snowballing health care crisis, with frontline doctors and nurses at breaking point because of manpower shortages and overwork.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor last week announced an extra HK$500 million (US$63.7 million) for the Hospital Authority to hire more frontline staff, especially nurses, and put an immediate end to a salary freeze for new joiners before the next financial year starts in April.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po is busy drafting his budget, to be announced later this month, and is expected to offer more funding for the public health care system.
Money is always welcome and useful, but in this particular case, it is no magic wand to wave away the more deep-rooted problems that go beyond the power of cold, hard cash.
