I recently read an article in the on ways to improve better public monitoring and rating of hospitals in the United States.
I believe we should adopt similar recommendations to those outlined in the article including publication of various performance metrics of hospitals in Hong Kong, whether public or private.
There is an unspoken rule among medical professionals to keep quiet about mistakes and mismanagement by their colleagues to protect the reputation of these people and the health sector. This is done at the expense of public health.
Better disclosure of hospital and surgical performance metrics will lead to enhanced public monitoring and hospital management. As the article says, if restaurants get rated, so should the hospitals.
Many years ago, my father suffered from a gall-bladder illness which was curable. However, he was placed in the hands of inexperienced trainees.
Without immediate family with him to monitor the level of hospital care, he eventually passed away despite initially having a minor ailment.
