The big picture on health care for the elderly that Hong Kong is missing – it’s quality of life that matters, not how long people live

City authorities lack the strategic vision to ensure policies and initiatives are integrated to prevent illness effectively, new report by UK centre finds

Diet, loneliness and environment are neglected by a public hospital system focused on curing disease but which will never keep up with demand for its services

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The health effects of loneliness are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, a recent study found. Hong Kong needs to take a holistic approach to the health and well-being of its elderly, not just treat disease, a new report says. Photo: James Wendlinger

Published: 3:00pm, 27 Sep 2019Updated: 4:05pm, 27 Sep 2019

Average life expectancy in Hong Kong is 84.7 years, the highest in the world, so the city must have a great health service, right? Not so fast. A report issued this month by a UK-based centre points to significant failings in Hong Kong’s health care system – and it’s only going to get worse unless we do something fast.

“While Hong Kong’s health system has been ranked as the most efficient in the world, it is coming under increasing strain as the population ages,” the International Longevity Centre UK reports in its “Healthy ageing in Hong Kong” policy briefing.

Professor Jean Woo, director of the CUHK Jockey Club Institute of Ageing, was among 13 people that centre staff interviewed in Hong Kong for the paper. Woo agrees with the report’s finding that Hong Kong’s health care system takes a curative approach rather than a preventive one, and that the public primary care services aren’t good enough to meet the needs of the city’s ageing population.

“Public doctors are so busy now, you are lucky if you get five minutes, and they are very drug-oriented. And hospitals are being used as primary care centres because people don’t know where to go, so they go to A&E [Accident and Emergency],” says Woo.

Two elderly men exercising. The physical and social environments of elderly people affect their quality of life and susceptibility to disease. Photo: Alamy

The report concludes that Hong Kong lacks the strategic vision to ensure policies and initiatives are integrated to prevent illness effectively, something Woo has been saying for some time.