Healthcare
145. Our healthcare and supporting teams in the public sector have been safeguarding the health of the community with professionalism and passion. Yet, surges in demand coupled with manpower and facility constraints have added to their workload. They are no doubt hard-pressed. In last year's Budget, I proposed the second 10-year hospital development plan and measures to strengthen healthcare manpower training, which aim to take forward long-term planning to meet growing service demand. We have tentatively included 19 projects under the second 10-year hospital development plan, providing about 9 000 additional hospital beds. The nine projects under the first 10-year hospital development plan have already commenced and made good progress.
146. Meanwhile, the Government will provide sufficient resources to support the operation and development of the public healthcare system. The estimated recurrent government expenditure on public healthcare services will increase by 10.9 per cent to $80.6 billion in 2019-20, accounting for 18.3 per cent of the total recurrent expenditure.
Hospital Authority
147. Our public healthcare system comes under even greater pressure in each outbreak of influenza. The long waiting time at the accident and emergency departments and the overloaded occupancy rates of wards have given rise to wide public concern. The Hospital Authority (HA), our frontline public healthcare provider, must properly plan and manage public hospital services and take timely and effective measures to cope with influenza surge and other possible public health challenges so as to live up to the expectations of the public. The Government will provide resources to fully support the work of the HA.
148. In view of the heavy workload of frontline healthcare workers, I have earlier asked the HA to propose ways to boost morale and retain talent. Having regard to the concrete recommendations from the HA, I will provide additional recurrent funding of over $700 million for the HA to introduce the following measures:
| (a) | increasing the rate of allowance for on-call medical officers, the rate of Special Honorarium Scheme allowance and the salary of ward supporting staff; |
| (b) | increasing the number of Advanced Practice Nurse posts to enhance evening ward services; |
| (c) | increasing the number of allied health professional posts to improve promotion prospects; and |
| (d) | allocating additional resources to continue implementing the Special Retired and Rehire Scheme. |
The HA will strive for early implementation of the above measures in 2019-20 to benefit its frontline staff.
149. The HA spends on average about $1 billion each year for upgrading and acquisition of medical equipment. I will earmark an additional $5 billion for the HA to expedite the work in this area, so as to enhance the healthcare quality and efficiency. The additional resources will be used for general medical equipment, introducing advanced medical devices for treating cancer and other diseases requiring specialty services, as well as providing relevant training.
150. To facilitate resource planning by the HA, the current-term Government has adopted a triennium funding arrangement to increase progressively the recurrent funding for the HA having regard to population growth and demographic changes. In view of the importance of public healthcare, I will earmark $10 billion to set up a public healthcare stabilisation fund so as to prepare for any additional expenditure which may be incurred by the HA in case of unexpected circumstances.
Subsidising Drug Treatments
151. I will provide an additional recurrent subvention of $400 million for the HA to expand the scope of the Drug Formulary, with a view to including more drugs for patients. The HA's total expenditure on drugs will increase to $6 billion in 2019-20. Complemented by the new measures to relax the means test mechanism for the Samaritan Fund and the CCF, this would alleviate the financial burden of patients' families arising from drug expenses. In addition, the HA has increased the frequency of the exercise for including self-financed drugs in the safety net to twice a year, hence shortening the lead time for including suitable new drugs in the scope of subsidy. With these measures in place, the total subsidy under the Samaritan Fund and the CCF Medical Assistance Programmes will double to $1.5 billion in 2019‑20, benefiting more needy patients.
Primary Healthcare
152. The Government will allocate resources to push ahead with district-based primary healthcare services to enhance public awareness of disease prevention and their self-health management capability. Hong Kong's first district health centre (DHC), located in Kwai Tsing, is expected to commence operation from the third quarter of this year. I have earmarked over $150 million to meet the operating expenditure and staff cost of the centre, and will continue to provide resources needed for the future expansion of the network of DHCs.
Hong Kong Genome Project
153. The Policy Address announced the launch of the Hong Kong Genome Project to promote the clinical application and innovative scientific research on genomic medicine. I will allocate about $1.2 billion to establish the Hong Kong Genome Institute and take forward the project, under which 40 000 to 50 000 whole genome sequencing will be performed in the next six years.
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