Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau (center) speaks during a press conference on Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme at Central Government Offices on Feb 19, 2024. (ANDY CHONG / CHINA DAILY)
Five hospitals and two dental clinics in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan and Zhongshan will start accepting Hong Kong’s elderly healthcare vouchers — an annual HK$2,000 ($255) subsidy given by the HKSAR government for the city’s elderly to seek medical treatment — as early as the third quarter of this year, Hong Kong’s medical chief announced on Monday.
After the extension, the application of healthcare vouchers will cover major parts of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and help more Hong Kong senior people enjoy their retirement in Guangdong province, Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said.
The five newly added hospitals are the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou and its division in the city’s Nansha district, Shenzhen New Frontier United Family Hospital, Dongguan Tungwah Hospital and ZhongShan Chenxinghai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine.
Together with the University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Hospital and its Huawei Li Zhi Yuan Community Health Service Center — which have already accepted the vouchers —seven mainland general medical institutions will be part of the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme, which aims to extend the coverage of the vouchers to more suitable medical institutions in the GBA.
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About 89,000 Hong Kong people aged 65 or above were living in Guangdong province in mid-2022, accounting for 17 percent of all Guangdong-based Hong Kong residents
Shenzhen C.K.J Stomatological Hospital, along with the Dental Bauhinia Specialty Service Center (Shenzhen) / Dental Bauhinia General Care Center (Shenzhen) Hospital, will be the first of two Chinese mainland dental clinics to accept the vouchers. Both of them are close to the land crossings between Shenzhen and Hong Kong to facilitate Hong Kong’s elderly residents, according to the HKSAR government.
In a statement released on Monday, the newly-added United Family Healthcare in Shenzhen said that it has already hired Cantonese-speaking doctors and nurses and established a dedicated counter for Hong Kong residents.
Moreover, bilingual medical reports in Chinese and English will be provided.
At a press conference on Monday, Lo said the mainland medical institutions will gradually start accepting Hong Kong’s elderly healthcare vouchers in the third quarter of this year.
Lo emphasized that for the first time the extension covers medical institutions outside Shenzhen， mainland-funded Grade 3A hospitals, private hospitals and dental.
Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau speaks during a press conference on Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme at Central Government Offices on Feb 19, 2024. (ANDY CHONG / CHINA DAILY)
In 2023, the government announced a series of enhancement measures to the elderly voucher scheme, including allowing eligible Hong Kong elderly persons to share vouchers with their spouse.
These improvements will also be applied to the mainland medical institutions, said Deputy Secretary for Health Eddie Lee lik-kong.
Lee said the pricing of relevant medical bodies is strictly regulated by the mainland authorities. Private hospitals and clinics’ fees may be higher than those of non-profit medical institutions but still need to be reviewed and approved by the local authorities, he added.
Lee explained that the selection of new pilot institutions was based on a government survey which interviewed thousands of medical service providers that are likely to provide services in the GBA, as well as recommendations from the Health Commission of Guangdong province.
The city’s health officials have also visited many GBA medical institutions to check their qualifications, Lee added.
About 89,000 Hong Kong people aged 65 or above were living in Guangdong province in mid-2022, accounting for 17 percent of all Guangdong-based Hong Kong residents. In 2022, HKU-SZ Hospital recorded 32,356 voucher-related transactions. The average amount vouchers used per transaction had increased from HK$290 in 2020 to HK$309 in 2023, the government said.
The government launched the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme in 2009 to provide subsidies for over-65s to tap into private healthcare services. Unconsumed vouchers can be accumulated for use in subsequent years, subject to a ceiling of HK$8,000. A three-year incentive program was launched in November of 2023, providing an additional HK$500 reward to the voucher accounts of people who spent vouchers worth HK$1,000 or more within a calendar year.
In 2015, the scheme was extended outside Hong Kong as the HKU-SZ Hospital started to accept the elderly healthcare vouchers at its designated clinics and departments.
In April 2023, the use of the vouchers was extended to HKU-SZ Hospital’s Huawei Li Zhi Yuan Community Health Service Center, in the city’s Longgang district.
