A survey of the Hong Kong health sector: Past, present and future

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 47; no. 7; pp. 927 - 939
• Main Author: Gauld, Robin D.C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-10-1998; Elsevier; Pergamon Press Inc
• Series: Social Science & Medicine
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; China (People's Republic); Delivery Systems; Futures (of Society); General aspects; Government; Government Policy; Great Britain; Health care policy; Health Care Sector - standards; Health Care Sector - trends; Health Care Services Policy; Health economics; Health planning; Health Policy; health sector restructuring; Health services; Health Services - standards; Health Services - trends; health services development; Health systems. Social services; History; Hong Kong; Hong Kong health policy health services development health sector restructuring; Hong Kong, China; Humans; Medical sciences; Medical sector; Medical service; Medicine, Alternative; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Peoples Republic of China; Public health; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Social Change; State Role; Hong Kong; Asia; China; Hong Kong China; health services development; health policy; Hong Kong; health sector restructuring; Health system; Chinese medicine; Health policy; Folk medicine; Government; Public health organization; Restructuration; Case history; Social change; Public health
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/S0277-9536(98)00158-0

This paper considers the involvement and performance in the health sector of the Hong Kong government prior to and beyond the transfer of sovereignty from Britain to China in July 1997. The paper commences with a historical survey of health services development, which provides insights into why the health system functions in its present haphazard manner. This section culminates by discussing the 1991 establishment of the statutory Hospital Authority which was an attempt to alleviate escalating problems in the administration of hospitals and public health services. Next, the paper surveys the present, discussing, respectively, the roles of government and private service providers, health care outcomes and the contribution of traditional Chinese medicine. Finally, the paper outlines a range of pressing issues which Hong Kong's future policy-makers will need to confront: the organization of the health sector, health financing and the health policy deficit. In the conclusion, it is posited that there is a need for government to formulate a health policy and to clarify its role in the provision of services.