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Letters | To fund healthcare improvements, Hong Kong must revive the economy by opening up
- Readers say scrapping quarantine would solve both Hong Kong’s economic and healthcare dilemmas and make the city a top draw for visitors again
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Might I respectfully suggest how to reconcile the policy divergences implied by recent reported statements by our financial secretary and health secretary.
In a blog post published on Sunday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said he expected Hong Kong’s budget deficit this year to be the second-worst on record and recognised that “small to medium enterprises and workers are all facing different degrees of economic pressure” because the poor economy has affected consumption, investment and imports. The key, he said, still hinged on whether the pandemic could be brought under control.
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Meanwhile, Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau said the government may scrap the hotel quarantine rule, but noted that apart from Covid-19 fatality rates, pre-pandemic pressure on the healthcare system and staff attrition rates were also factors for consideration.
Domestically, though the pandemic is under control thanks to the vaccination programme, it seems economic pressures limit what government might do to reverse pre-pandemic health service pressures.
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Thus, if those pressures resulting from hammering Hong Kong’s tourism, travel, logistics, luxury goods, entertainment, rental and even banking sectors through unnecessary restrictions on travel were reversed, the government could boost tax income, better fund support for nursing, attract more doctors to Hong Kong, shorten waiting lists and boost afflicted business sectors.
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