Welcome address by Chairman, Hospital Authority of Hong Kong: opening ceremony of the International Hospital Federation Congress--May 2001.
One of the significant features of Hong Kong is its public healthcare system, which provides universal, easily accessible and heavily subsidized medical care for all. The governing policy has been to ensure that no one is denied adequate medical care because of insufficient means through the provision of a comprehensive range of healthcare services funded from the public purse at extremely low fees to users. Over the past decade, the public hospital sector has been able to provide efficient and quality health services comparable to those of the industrialised nations. However, the reality today is that the public hospitals are facing many challenges that must be overcome and ways must be sought to mitigate the growing strains on the healthcare system and rebalance the healthcare economics. The recently published Consultation Document on Healthcare Reform, by Dr E K Yeoh, Secretary for Health & Welfare, proposes the introduction of a comprehensive range of short-term and long-term initiatives to revitalize and transform the healthcare system into a community-focused, patient-centred and knowledge-based integrated healthcare service with improved interface between the public and private sectors.
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D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006291:Health Policy; D006723:Hong Kong; D006740:Hospital Administrators; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011635:Public Health Administration; D012954:Societies, Hospital