Hong Kong patient advocacy groups urge government to clarify elderly healthcare voucher dispute procedures in mainland China

Concerns voiced over how elderly Hongkongers can raise disputes when using annual HK$2,000 healthcare vouchers at facilities over border

Health Bureau has announced plans to extend scheme to seven more hospitals and dental centres in Greater Bay Area by third quarter of year

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People aged 65 or over who hold a Hong Kong identity card or Certificate of Exemption issued by the Immigration Department are eligible for the vouchers. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 2:30pm, 20 Feb 2024Updated: 5:17pm, 20 Feb 2024

Patient advocacy groups have urged Hong Kong authorities to release more information on the use of elderly healthcare vouchers in mainland China amid concerns over the handling of medical disputes and compensation claims across the border.

The Health Bureau announced plans on Monday to extend the city’s voucher scheme to seven more hospitals and dental centres in the Greater Bay Area by the third quarter of this year.

Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said service quality control would be managed by mainland authorities.

“I must emphasise that from my personal experience with the mainland healthcare services, the control by the health commission of the various cities, and also by the provincial health commissions, is very strict and serious,” he said, when asked how voucher holders could handle cases of medical disputes or blunders.

“There are ways for complaints [to be made in Hong Kong] if ... the patients feel that there are some services which are not up to their expectations. For the financial side, our Department of Health has a team to look into all the claims for the healthcare vouchers.”

The bay area is Beijing’s plan to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine Guangdong province cities into an economic powerhouse.

Lo said no serious irregularities had been recorded for services provided by the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, referring to one of the two medical institutions currently covered by the voucher scheme in Shenzhen.