The medical sector hopes that in the coming policy address, the chief executive (CE) would promise not to include mandatory medical insurance in next year's consultation on medical reform.

Legislator for the medical sector Leung Ka-lau said the economy will be gloomy next year and it is not a good time to impose on people an extra financial burden.

He suggested the government deduct or waive tax on people's medical expenses.

"Making medical expenses tax-free can attract the middle class to use private medical services."

He hoped in the next round of consultation on medical financing, the idea of making medical expenses tax-free could be chosen as an option.

Alvin Chan, vice chairman of the Hong Kong Medical Council, said people are going to object to a mandatory medical insurance scheme under the current wobbling economy.

"The government should encourage people to buy insurance instead of making it mandatory," he said.

Gary Chan, legislator from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and the party's spokesman on health services, said he hoped the government would not introduce mandatory medical insurance at the start of the medical reform.

"The economy is getting worse and the government should not impose on the lower and middle classes such extra medical expenses," he said.

He suggested the government first discuss how to reform the public medical system.

"It is more important to discuss how to use resources on primary healthcare more efficiently," he noted.

He added that he hoped the CE would increase the amount of medical vouchers for the elderly in the policy address.

Starting from next year, each elderly aged 70 or above will get five HK$50 vouchers annually.

The aim of the medical voucher plan is to encourage the elderly to use private medical services.

Chan said five vouchers (worth a total of HK$250) are insufficient and he hoped the government could increase the total value of the vouchers to HK$500.

Meanwhile, the medical sector also hoped the policy address could address the imbalance in the utilization ratio between public and private medical services.

Leung pointed out that there are currently too many patients and not enough staff in the public medical sector while the private medical sector is the exact opposite.

He said the government should encourage people to use private medical services and suggested it allocate more land for building private hospitals.

There are only about 3,000 beds in private hospitals, he said.

Due to the lack of beds, private hospitals often have to refer some emergency cases to public hospitals, imposing extra workload on the public medical sector.

Chan said the policy address should set up a clear long-term goal in terms of developing medical tourism in Hong Kong, which means attracting tourists to have medical checks in the city.

"Compared to its neighbors like Thailand and Singapore, Hong Kong is already lagging behind in the development of medical tourism," he said.

If the government wants to develop medical tourism, he said it is important for the government to put more beds in private hospitals.

(HK Edition 10/14/2008 page1)