ENG-2010 — Page 202

156

Chapter 8

Health

The Government makes every effort to ensure no one in Hong Kong is denied medical care due to lack of means. Both the public and private medical sectors provide a wide range of healthcare services that include a low cost public healthcare 'safety net' for the needy. The Government is pushing ahead with reforms in the delivery and financing of healthcare services to cope with a changing demographic structure and rising medical costs. It also takes measures to protect public health including disease control, health promotion and education, and tobacco control, etc.

2010 Figures at a Glance Infant Mortality Rate

Maternal Mortality Ratio

Life Expectancy 2010

2039

(*provisional figures)

1.6* per 1 000 registered live births

1.1* per 100 000 registered live births

80.0* (Male) 85.9* (Female)

83.7 (Male)

90.1 (Female) projected

Hong Kong has a quality healthcare system supported by a highly professional team of healthcare workers. The infant mortality rate has been falling steadily over the past 20 years and was the second lowest in the world in 2008. Hong Kong people's life expectancy has improved notably. In 2010, it was 80.0* years for males and 85.9* years for females (* provisional figures). Male and female expectancy figures were the fourth and second highest in the world in 2008.

Hong Kong's healthcare system comes at a price, however. Its Domestic Health Accounts (DHA)1 show that Hong Kong's total health expenditure increased from 3.6 per cent to 5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the period 1989-90 to 2006-07. As a percentage of total health expenditure, public health spending over the same period rose from 39 per cent to 50 per cent. Public health spending in the 2006-07 financial year amounted to $37.4 billion, or 2.5 per cent of GDP. In face of

1

A series of accounts compiled over the years in accordance with the International Classification for Health Accounts (ICHA) Framework developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to keep track of Hong Kong's health spending and to allow for international comparison.