Health chief dismisses concerns over Hong Kong Island hospitals rejig

Health authorities have dismissed concerns that a plan to reorganise public healthcare services on Hong Kong Island will result in patients having to travel longer to see a doctor.

Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau told a Legislative Council meeting on Friday that no hospital would be shut down under the plan to merge the eastern and western groupings on Hong Kong Island, which was driven by changes in population distribution.

The Hospital Authority, which runs the city’s public hospitals, organises its facilities into seven geographical “clusters”, with two on Hong Kong Island, two in the New Territories and three in Kowloon.

The government estimated that the population on Hong Kong Island would decline to 1.2 million by 2031 – around the number of people served by one cluster.

“Regular services such as medicine, surgery, gynaecology, paediatrics and orthopaedics will be maintained and the patients will not be asked to travel from the east to the west, or the other way round,” Lo said.

“Only specialised services, surgery and treatments might be adjusted because we need to focus resources to enhance the quality … but those services would be focused at specific spots regardless of the restructuring.”

Lo added that those specialised service spots, such as the chest pain centre at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam, would not only ensure better service delivery but also benefit doctors’ professional training amid a shortage of healthcare workers.