Health | 175
The Hospital Authority 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 outpatient clinics and outreach services.
Hong Kong had in total 34 128 hospital beds in 2005, representing 4.9 beds per 1 000 population: 27 765 beds in hospitals run by the Hospital Authority, 3 047 in private hospitals, 2 587 in nursing homes and 729 in the Correctional Services Department.
The Health and Medical Development Advisory Committee was reconstituted on March 1, 2005 to review and develop the future delivery model for healthcare services and propose long-term healthcare financing options with a view to ensuring the sustainability of Hong Kong's healthcare system. The committee, chaired by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, has 12 members from various sectors of the community. On July 19, it issued a discussion paper, 'Building a Healthy Tomorrow', for a three-month public consultation. There was widespread support for the paper's proposals which, in sum, were: (a) making better use of primary care services and promoting the family doctor concept so that primary care services could function effectively as a gatekeeper for specialist and hospital services; (b) more collaboration and cooperation between the public and private sectors to redress the imbalance between the public and private sectors' market share; (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 medical record system. The committee's next step is to make recommendations on healthcare financing in 2006.
Primary Healthcare Services
Family Health
The Family Health Service of the Department of Health provides a comprehensive range of health promotion and disease prevention services for children from birth to five years old and women aged 64 or below. The service operates through 31 Maternal and Child Health Centres and three Woman Health Centres. Guidance on child care and parenting is provided for parents and care-givers to bring up healthy and well-adjusted children. Immunisation, health and developmental surveillance services are offered to children at maternal and child health centres. Antenatal, postnatal, family planning and cervical screening services are provided for women as appropriate. About 38 per cent of expectant mothers and 91 per cent of newborns attended maternal and child health centres in 2005. The Woman Health Service is available in the three woman health centres and 10 maternal and child health centres, providing health education, counselling and screening services to women aged 64 or below.
The government-subvented Family Planning Association of Hong Kong runs seven clinics, three youth healthcare centres, a mobile clinic, a mobile library, a reference library and seven women's clubs. The services encompass fertility regulation, women's health check-ups, pre-marital and pre-pregnancy preparation,
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