Hong Kong can lift strain on healthcare system by standardising end-of-life planning: think tank
- Think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation says city lacks end-of-life care framework despite a bill allowing advance directives on such treatments
- Poll shows there is huge demand for end-of-life planning and room for reducing pressure on the healthcare system, think tank vice-president adds
Hong Kong authorities can ease the strain on the city’s healthcare system by standardising end-of-life planning services for terminally ill patients and offering referrals to community care services, a leading think tank has said.
The government proposed amending the law last May to allow residents aged 18 or above who are mentally fit to make an advance directive that can bar medical professionals from performing life-sustaining treatments in situations where they are unable to make a decision.
Ryan Ip Man-ki, vice-president of Our Hong Kong Foundation, said on Tuesday that while he supported the bill, it was limited as it only focused on the medical aspect.
The city lacked a comprehensive and standardised end-of-life care framework, Ip said.
“End-of-life care also includes social, mental and spiritual aspects. These aspects cannot be achieved if we only rely on the directive,” he said.
“In the whole process of end-of-life care, the advance directive only emerges at the very end of the timeline, right before death.”