Residents who give up waiting to see doctor at Hong Kong public hospital A&E departments can receive refund
- Under special Lunar New Year arrangement, non-urgent patients can get back the HK$180 A&E department attendance fee if they leave without receiving treatment
- As of Tuesday afternoon, the average waiting time at the departments ranged from one to six hours
Hong Kong public hospitals will offer to refund the attendance fee paid by non-urgent patients at accident and emergency (A&E) departments if they give up waiting and leave over the Lunar New Year holiday in a bid to encourage them to seek treatment elsewhere.
Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau on Tuesday said he expected a surge in respiratory infections over the holiday period, as the mercury would drop again, but the government had enacted measures to handle a rise in demand for hospital services.
Dr Tony Ko Pat-sing, chief executive of the Hospital Authority, said the special refund arrangement, which would be offered from Friday to February 18, aimed to focus labour and resources on urgent cases.
“We hope the arrangement can help encourage mild or stable cases to seek help from the private sector or general outpatient clinics,” he said. “We have seen patients who wished to leave while waiting, but chose to stay because they already paid the attendance fee.”
Patients at A&E departments are divided into five categories based on their medical condition. Non-urgent cases are usually asked to pay a HK$180 (US$23) attendance fee before seeing a doctor, while urgent ones pay the amount after treatment.