WeDoctor online medical services platform to get ‘Greater Bay Area’ section with 10,000 practitioners, but listing could prove legally tricky for Hong Kong providers

Company, which is backed by tech giant Tencent, announces plans for expansion of existing site guahao.com

Platform will serve Hong Kong, Macau and nine Guangdong cities, but legal risks may stop local doctors listing

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Hong Kong hospitals and doctors could run into legal issues by listing themselves with WeDoctor. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 9:00am, 3 Nov 2018Updated: 10:41am, 3 Nov 2018

A mainland Chinese company’s hopes of including Hong Kong medical service providers in a new platform created to serve cities in the “Greater Bay Area” may be easier said than done, according to local doctors.

Online medical solutions provider WeDoctor, backed by tech giant Tencent, announced on Friday plans for a new section on its platform guahao.com to serve Hong Kong, Macau and nine Guangdong cities. The Greater Bay Area is the central government’s scheme to link these cities into an integrated economic and business hub.

Users of the platform will be able to book appointments with practitioners of Western and Chinese medicine and have consultations over the phone or internet.

Former Hospital Authority chairman Anthony Wu (left) will head the new platform from WeDoctor, whose CEO is Jerry Liao (right). Photo: Nora Tam

WeDoctor said the new platform contained the details of more than 10,000 doctors and 79 hospitals, including a number of public hospitals in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai. But only one medical company in Hong Kong – Reproductive Healthcare Group – had signed up.

The group has not replied to the Post’s request for comment.

Hong Kong Medical Association vice-president Dr Ho Chung-ping warned local doctors that they could run into legal issues by listing on online platforms.

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