Fast-ageing Hong Kong district Kwai Tsing to test drive subsidised health care plan

Community hub first of planned network to be rolled out across city’s 18 districts as officials look to ease burden on public hospitals

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The Kwai Tsing district has an ageing population that will require more care over the course of the next decade. Photo: Martin Chan

Published: 9:01am, 11 Jul 2018Updated: 10:13am, 11 Jul 2018

Patients seeking out medical care at a new community health care hub in a Hong Kong district with one of the city’s fastest-ageing populations will get a government subsidy and fee caps on services.

Details of the plan were revealed in a government paper on Tuesday, which set out proposals for a district health centre in Kwai Tsing, which is expected to open in the third quarter of 2019.

First announced in Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s policy address in October last year, the centre is the first step towards a primary health care network across the city’s 18 districts.

The aim of the network is to ease the burden on overstretched public hospitals and cater to the greying population, and the expected increase in residents with chronic health problems.

Patients wait outside a clinic in Mong Kok. Photo: Handout

Compared with the city’s overall population, Kwai Tsing, which according to the 2016 government figures had some 511,000 residents, was found to have a higher prevalence of residents with hypertension and a history of smoking.

Fast-ageing Hong Kong district Kwai Tsing to test drive subsidised health care plan

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Community hub first of planned network to be rolled out across city’s 18 districts as officials look to ease burden on public hospitals

Community hub first of planned network to be rolled out across city’s 18 districts as officials look to ease burden on public hospitals