Hong Kong’s second primary care health centre to open in housing development area, with focus on patients with high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity
- Centre will be opened under scheme announced in Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s 2017 policy address
- Wong Tai Sin area has been chosen because of high incidence of smoking and drinking alcohol among local population
The second district health centre charged with enhancing community wellness will be situated in a new public housing estate in Wong Tai Sin as a higher rate of smokers and drinkers has been recorded among the local population, according to the health authority. The centre, which prioritises the treatment of at-risk patients with high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, is the second one to be opened under a scheme announced by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in her 2017 police address.
It aims to ease the burden on the overcrowded public sector by enhancing the role of primary care, which could subsequently bring down the hospitalisation rate for the at-risk group.
In a document submitted to Wong Tai Sin district council, the bureau said the second centre would be built within the first stage of a public rental housing development area in Diamond Hill, which is expected to begin in 2020 or 2021.
The bureau expects the centre to begin providing services a year later.
Pay patients to go private to ease overcrowding in public hospitals, suggests doctors’ group
“[It is because the Wong Tai Sin district] has the highest proportion of population who smoke, or occasionally or often drink alcohol,” the paper said.
The centre will be operated by nurses, therapists, pharmacists, social workers and other support staff to provide health assessment to patients, as well as community rehabilitation services.
If necessary, patients will be referred to diet or pharmacy counselling, or to doctors within the network for treatment.
Hong Kong’s health care system is heavily tilted towards public hospitals, with the public sector taking care of 90 per cent of inpatients, despite employing just 40 per cent of the city’s doctors.
The public hospitals are about 350 doctors short at all times, according to the Hospital Authority, which manages the public facilities.
Opinion: City’s public hospitals need a transfusion of doctors and nurses from overseas
During peak season for influenza, medical staff have to work extra shifts to clear the queue of patients, in which people must wait for 8 to 12 hours to be seen for non-urgent cases.
A local think tank, the Our Hong Kong Foundation, has estimated that the city needs 11,000 more doctors to bring its public health services into line with international standards.
