Pre-registration for dental clinics not ideal: govt
Health officials have conceded that the pre-registration system for public dental clinics is not an ideal arrangement, saying a planned digital ticketing system will be a better alternative than late-night queues.  On Friday, the government pledged to finish the development of an electronic system within this year and provide assistance to people who are not tech-savvy to secure a slot to see a dentist.  The government earlier announced that from July, people will be allowed to sign up for next-day emergency treatment from 8pm, rather than from midnight.  But some lawmakers on the public accounts committee complained that bringing forward the preliminary registration hours will not shorten queuing times.  "Unfortunately, I want to emphasise again that if we cannot meet the demand for service, then there will be a need to have a disc allocation. And if you have to ask people to come and queue, then definitely they will all try to come as soon as possible, and there will be a waiting time for them," Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau told the legislators. "We now try to put in place a better arrangement, so the preliminary registration will be changed to 8pm the night before. I want to emphasise that this is not the ideal arrangement. But we just want to reduce the waiting time for the elderly. So the solution will be electronic registration." Lo added that it would be a "utopian thought" to have no queues at clinics, saying it would require a large number of medical staff providing services.  It would also be a waste of the city's medical resources, he added. Director of Health Ronald Lam, for his part, promised that an electronic system would be ready within this year, as authorities are hammering out details with the contractors. He also told lawmakers that officials will assist those who are not tech-savvy in making registrations on the platform. "During the vaccination drive for Covid, there were a number of service points set up to help elderly people who are not familiar with technology to make a booking. There are still a lot of service points running in the community," Lam said.  "Once we have completed developing the platform, we will offer assistance to elderly people should they need it via these existing service points."