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elements of diagnosis and treatment.
This would however be
a very significant departure from the long-standing principle
that treatment in Government hospitals is free and that
patients are charged a modest fee per day which in practice
covers only the cost of the meals provided. While I would
not rule out a move in the direction suggested by Dr. Fang,
I do not think that it would be appropriate to introduce charges
of this kind until such time as we have considered the
consultants' recommendations on the overall question of the
delivery of medical services in our hospitals.
3.
I would also like to make a specific comment on
Dr. Fang's suggestion that general outpatient clinics
should in future be operated by the College of General
Practitioners.
Doctors in private practice already make a
most valuable contribution to primary health care in Hong
Kong by complementing the general outpatient services provided
by the Government. In fact, private practitioners treat
about 75% of the patients who seek outpatient consultations
with western-trained doctors. There are however certain problems
that would arise if private doctors were to take over completely
the operation of Government outpatient clinics. The curative
role of these clinics is only one of their functions; their
role in the surveillance and control of local epidemic and
endemic diseases is at least as important. These functions
are an essential part of the Government's measures to promote
/public....
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