Hong Kong public hospitals will deploy more than 1,000 service ambassadors to assist residents when healthcare reforms take effect next Thursday, with authorities saying the system revamp to accommodate the fee changes is entering its final stage.
Director of Cluster Services Wong Yiu-chung said on Saturday that public hospital systems, including billing and dispensing, had been updated to reflect the adjusted fees aimed at addressing structural challenges in the healthcare sector.
Under the revamp set to take effect on January 1, the government aims to reduce its public healthcare subsidy rate from 97.6 per cent, one of the highest in the world, to 90 per cent by 2030.
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“We have completed the final stages of testing,” Wong told a radio show.
“All systems are quite stable and I am quite confident the changes will be implemented as we expected.”
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He said great effort had gone into publicising and explaining the different stages and scope of the reforms to both medical staff and residents.