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same period. Public health spending in the 2004-05 financial year amounted to $37.2 billion, or 2.8 per cent of GDP. Hong Kong's ageing population, rising expectations of health care, and soaring medical costs pose a challenge to the Government in the long run and is a matter of concern to the community.
Organisational Framework
The Food and Health Bureau is responsible for, among other things, forming policies and allocating resources for the running of Hong Kong's health services. It also ensures these policies are carried out effectively to protect and promote public health, provide lifelong holistic health care to every citizen of Hong Kong, and ensure that no one is denied adequate medical treatment due to lack of means.
The Department of Health is the Government's health adviser and agency to execute healthcare policies and statutory functions. It safeguards the community's health through a range of promotional, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services.
The Hospital Authority (HA) is a statutory body established in 1990 under the Hospital Authority Ordinance to provide public hospital and related services. It offers medical treatment and rehabilitation services to patients through hospitals, specialist clinics, general out-patient clinics, and outreaching services that are organised into seven clusters which together serve the whole of Hong Kong.
The Health and Medical Development Advisory Committee (HMDAC), chaired by the Secretary for Food and Health, has 11 members drawn from different sectors of the community. Its role is to review regularly the way healthcare services are provided in Hong Kong and to draw up a long-term plan to ensure the sustainable development of Hong Kong's healthcare system.
Healthcare Reform
In July 2005, the HMDAC issued a discussion paper on the future of healthcare services, which contained proposals that won extensive public support. Its key recommendations include:
(a) putting more emphasis on primary healthcare services and promoting the
family doctor concept;
(b) strengthening collaboration and co-operation between the public and
private sectors with the former focusing more on its priority areas;
(c) caring for the elderly, patients with chronic diseases and patients in the
rehabilitation stage in the community as far as possible; and
(d) making use of information technology to establish a territory-wide
electronic patient record system.
In accordance with the proposals made by the HMDAC, the Government published the Healthcare Reform Consultation Document 'Your Health, Your Life' in March 2008, putting forward a package of inter-connected reform proposals on the