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2019 September
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HK-Shenzhen Collaboration Promotes Medical Care in Greater Bay Area

Opened in 2012, the University of Hong Kong (HKU)-Shenzhen Hospital is the first hospital operated in partnership between Hong Kong and the Mainland. It successfully integrates Hong Kong’s management experience and Shenzhen’s innovative atmosphere and is regarded as a model for medical collaboration in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area). Its success heralds a new direction for the future of medical care in the Greater Bay Area.

 

According to the State Council’s Guiding Opinions on the Reform of Public Hospitals issued in 2009, Shenzhen was selected as one of the pilots for nationwide medical reform. Lo Chung-mau, Chief Executive of the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital said that, at that time Shenzhen came up with a bold idea to build a new hospital, to be managed by the HKU, as a testing ground for medical collaboration between the two places. It was later the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital.

 

“This is a very bold idea. Because of the stark difference between their medical systems, it is easy to imagine how difficult it is to apply Hong Kong’s management approach to the Mainland and reform at the same time. What we’re doing is the world’s largest medical research project, which affects the health of 70 million people in the Greater Bay Area and even 1.4 billion people across the country.”

 

Hong Kong and the Mainland both have their strengths in medical care

In Lo’s view, Hong Kong and the Mainland can achieve a win-win situation by establishing a complementary relationship since their medical systems both have their own strengths despite being different from each other. “Hong Kong’s public hospitals are funded by the government on a fixed annual basis. Their employees are paid a fixed salary and patients need to pay only a low fee. The hospitals can truly focus on patients’ interests since they do not have to worry about financial issues, but their efficiency has to be taken into consideration.”

 

Run independently, Mainland hospitals are market-oriented as they are responsible for their own profits or losses. Many hospitals are often geared to revenue generation as they need to take finance into account, while doctors are motivated by the idea of doing more to earn more, so they are very efficient. However, Lo noted that Mainland hospitals sometimes are too commercialised and overlook patients’ interests.

 

“Would it be ideal if we could combine and balance the strengths of each other, e.g. Hong Kong’s quality with the Mainland’s quantity; Hong Kong’s standards with the Mainland’s efficiency; and Hong Kong’s expertise with the Mainland’s enterprises ?”

 

Promotes medical reform in the Mainland

Lo added that applying Hong Kong’s management model will help correct some of the long-standing weaknesses of the Mainland’s medical system. For example, Mainland hospital services are charged by items, but the items are overly detailed and the fees are too low. “In the Mainland, the registration fee is only RMB10 or RMB20. To earn more money, many doctors prescribe unnecessary examinations, ultrasounds, computer scans, intravenous injections, etc., which not only cause excessive medical treatment, but also disregard the interests of patients. Intravenous injections, for example, contain a lot of antibiotics and may cause infection or allergic reactions due to side effects, or even death.”

 

Therefore, the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital pioneered a “package pricing system”, which is similar to Hong Kong’s medical package charges. According to Lo, patients were not used to it at first, but the results are excellent after several years of keeping it in practice. “Package pricing resolves the issue of unnecessary medical treatment and aligns the interests of the patient, doctor and hospital, i.e. the patient’s smooth recovery, rather than seeking profits. Moreover, package charging is 30% cheaper than charging by item.”

 

Medical care integration in Greater Bay Area will benefit Hong Kong

With the integration of the Greater Bay Area, more and more Hong Kong residents are moving to and from the Mainland to live, work and retire. Hong Kong can also benefit from the integration of medical resources in the Greater Bay Area. For example, at the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital, Hong Kong’s health care vouchers can now be used for outpatient services and may also cover inpatient services in the future. The hospital also has a cross-border call and care service where Hong Kong’s elderly in the Mainland can call to get help from the hospital.

 

At present, the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital is in collaboration with the Shenzhen Society for Rehabilitation Yee Hong Heights, where the hospital will provide outreaching medical services for the elderly living in the facility so that they can avoid the trouble of travelling back to Hong Kong for medical consultation. This model, if extended to other elderly homes in the Mainland, is set to attract more Hong Kong residents to the Mainland for retirement.

 

Lo believes that some of the long-standing medical care issues plaguing Hong Kong can be fixed with closer cooperation between Hong Kong and the Mainland’s medical systems. “Hong Kong’s public hospitals are currently overstretched. On the other hand, Mainland hospitals are very welcoming towards patients as they are more market-oriented. When the Mainland catches up with Hong Kong in terms of medical care standards, some patients on the waiting list can be transferred to Mainland hospitals. This will alleviate the pressure on Hong Kong’s public hospitals in the long run.”