Will increased community support solve Hong Kong’s strained elderly care services?
Equipping community centres with basic health services for the elderly and issuing thousands of care service vouchers among raft of measures expected
For 75-year-old Wu Siu-ping, who suffers from chronic illnesses, the long wait to see a doctor at a public clinic in Aberdeen can be an exhausting and mind-numbing experience.
“You have to wait for a long time – two to three hours – to get to see the doctor for 10 minutes and after that you have to wait another hour for the medicine,” she said.
But with the help of a volunteer nurse who now provides health consultations to the elderly at a care centre nearby, Wu can cut down on the dreaded trips to the clinic.
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“I have seen the doctor less often now and only return to the public clinic for follow-up appointments,” Wu said.
Similar accounts have been told by other patients at the Southern District Integrated Elderly Service Centre – run by the Aberdeen Kai-fong Welfare Association Social Service Centre – in Wah Fu Estate, one of the oldest public housing estates in southwestern Hong Kong.
The centre is one of few elderly community care facilities in Hong Kong running such a pilot scheme providing primary care to elderly people who live within walking distance.