(a)
(b)
ક
(c)
Mr President,
(a)
11 -
of the criteria adopted by the public hospitals under the management of the Hospital Authority for determining the level of the fee charged on medical certificates issued to patients, and the proportion of the fee charged to the cost involved in issuing such a certificate;
the respective figures on the number of medical certificates issued by medical officers in public hospitals and the income therefrom in each of the years since the establishment of the Hospital Authority; and
the reasons usually put forward by patients in requesting medical officers in public hospitals to issue them with medical certificates, and the average time taken by the medical officers concerned in issuing medical certificates to patients?
I would like to start by explaining the different types of documents pertaining to a patient's conditions issued by the Hospital Authority in order to avoid any misunderstanding.
The Hospital Authority issues certificates to patients at their requests, which are usually in a standard form, or in a memo or letter format. A certificate contains very little clinical information on the patient and is usually for the purpose of certifying sick leave or fitness or unfitness of a patient to perform duty.
On the other hand, medical reports issued by the Hospital Authority contain detailed information on the medical history and conditions of individual patients.
Not all certificates and medical reports are issued at a charge. For example, certificates issued for sick leave purposes or for certifying fitness or unfitness to perform duty are issued free of charge. Medical reports requested by a non-Hospital Authority medical practitioner for the sole purpose of continued care by that medical practitioner are also issued free of charge. For certificates and medical reports issued for other purposes, a fee varying from $555 to $2,200 per certificate or medical report is charged.