Medical professionals told China Daily yesterday that there is no urgency in launching a healthcare reform, but they stressed that details of the proposals should be carefully studied.

The government will announce details of the proposed reform in a Legislative Council meeting on Thursday.

"At the moment I do not see any urgency to launch, but it is a measure to prepare for the future," said president of Hong Kong Doctors Union Yeung Chiu-fat.

He agreed with the government's prediction that the expenditure on healthcare services would grow tremendously with the aging population.

Yet president of the Hong Kong Medical Association Choi Kin held a different view.

"It is a projection only," he said, adding that a huge medical expense can be prevented if citizens could do better on primary healthcare. "Most of them have poor health knowledge," he added.

There have been reports that six options will be presented. These include raising tax, increasing charges on medical services, voluntary health insurance, mandatory health insurance, mandatory health savings and a mixed model of insurance and savings.

Yeung has ruled out raising tax as he thought it would only weaken investment incentive in the city, but he found mandatory health savings plus insurance could offer citizens stronger ability to cope with heavy medical expenses in the future.

The government should offer assistance to citizens who need financial help, but it is the responsibility of the people to save up for their healthcare, Yeung added.

"The HK$50 billion set aside in the budget for healthcare at least proves that the government has the determination (to kick-start the healthcare reform)," he said.

However, medical professionals are concerned about the administration and moral hazards that may arise from the reform.

"We have no idea how the centralized fund will be managed. If it is controlled by a board of directors, will they be elected by the general public or just the professionals?" Choi said, adding that external supervision is vital to strengthen public confidence in the reform.

In addition to the administration of the money, Yeung said that some insurance companies may influence doctors' medical judgment such as the choice of drugs or treatment.

As such, the government also needs to monitor insurance services, he added.

Choi reminded that the fund should be properly spent but not be completely used on administration work.

"If a large number of patients end up not receiving proper (medical) treatment, the HK$50 billion could be just peanuts," he added.

The healthcare reform proposals should be carefully studied so as not to deprive any citizens of the best treatment, Choi said.

(HK Edition 03/11/2008 page1)