The Health Bureau reiterates that referring local patients outside the MSAR region for treatment is supplementary to the city’s medical services, according to a press release published by the Bureau on Wednesday.
The press release comes in response to a recent news report by Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post (SCMP) published on Monday, stating that MSAR patients mistrust the city’s medical services and instead go to Hong Kong for medical treatment.
In the report by SCMP, the newspaper indicated that Macau hospitals send out-patients to Hong Kong for treatment due to the city’s lack of infrastructure and specialists in medical services.
Locally, there are three major hospitals, both private and public: Kiang Wu Hospital, Centro Hospitalar Conde de São Januário, and University Hospital at the Macau University of Science and Technology.
Kiang Wu Hospital employs more than 340 doctors, with two thirds of them trained in Mainland China, SCMP reveals.
According to the publication’s Monday story, residents don’t trust the doctors trained in Mainland China and as such go to Hong Kong even for simple medical procedures and check-ups because of the professionalism of doctors in the HKSAR.
In 2014, reports SCMP, São Januário public hospital sent 2,000 patients to Hong Kong for medical treatment, costing HKD200 million (MOP206 million/ US$25.8 million) per year. The amount included expenses incurred in trips to Hong Kong.
Figures published by the HK-based newspaper indicated that a patient from Macau needs to pay HKD4,680 per day in order to stay in a Hong Kong hospital.
In 2015, the Macau Government spent HKD7 billion on public healthcare, a 40 per cent increase from the HKD5 billion of the previous year, SCMP cites.
Supplemental medical services
The Bureau emphasises in the press release that the local hospitals send out-patients to other regions only for rare medical cases.
The Bureau affirms that the local medical professionals are capable of treating the vast majority of medical cases in the city.
Due to the small population of Macau, as well as small number of rare medical cases in the city, the Bureau says that there is a need to send out-patents for special medical treatment in order to supplement the inadequate medical services of the territory.
According to the local health bureau, for year 2015 1.6 of every local 1,000 patients were referred to Hong Kong for medical treatment. This rate, indicates the Bureau, is ‘very low when related to the general services and these are merely a complement to the local medical services offered’.
The Bureau indicates that it is developing ‘sophisticated medical services’ based on the ‘needs of sick persons in Macau’ and with regard to new services their practicality needs to be taken into consideration in terms of a small population in the region. Thus, sending out-patients with a special diagnosis for medical treatment is economically effective for the region, the Bureau says.
