XN000022-1996-01-10 — Page 46

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Privately purchased medical items

Following is a question by the Hon Mok Ying-fan and a reply by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

The Hospital Authority (HA) has recently issued a memorandum to the 41 public hospitals under its management, asking them to limit the categories of "privately purchased medical items" to 10 items. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)

(b)

(c)

of the number of hospitals which have already been recovering the cost of medical equipment, drugs and medical services provided to certain groups of patients;

what criteria have been adopted by the hospitals mentioned in (a) above for determining which medical services should be charged in accordance with the 'recovery of cost' principle, and what is the proportion of the charges paid by patients to the cost of providing such services; and

why the HA has introduced a standardised list of "privately purchased medical items" in public hospitals without consulting the public?

Reply:

Mr President,

The term "privately purchased medical items" is commonly used to describe surgical implants, consumable and other disposable equipment which patients are required to purchase for their treatment in public hospitals, where the treatment is provided mainly in major acute hospitals. This practice of requiring the patients to meet the cost of certain medical items is not new but has been so even before the establishment of the Hospital Authority in 1991.