HK to move cautiously on mainland hospital care: govt
Plans to offer Hongkongers more medical treatment on the mainland will initially involve consultations and low-risk procedures, Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau said on Sunday. In last week's Policy Address, Chief Executive John Lee said the government wants to make optimal use of medical services in other parts of the Greater Bay Area "to alleviate the pressure on service demand of our public hospital services and shorten the waiting time of our residents". Lo said this will involve arranging consultations, scans and minor treatment first, before providing higher risk procedures in mainland hospitals in the future.  "We will start with projects with lower risk, because risk management is very important," he said. "Through past experience, like elderly healthcare vouchers and a sustained consultation support scheme, we can see that at mainland hospitals, including the Hong Kong University Shenzhen Hospital, the medical quality is very high." The minister added that one issue to tackle before the plan can be put into effect is the cross-border integration of medical records. On a Commercial Radio programme, Lo also said that Hong Kong will be able to get its hands on some good medicines under a new rule on the registration of drugs which comes into force on November 1. The change means a new product can be registered in the SAR if just one other drug regulatory authority elsewhere has approved it, rather than two authorities at present. Lo said the move provides a golden opportunity for more mainland drugs to be brought to Hong Kong.