Hong Kong poised to be the medical centre of Asia

As Hong Kong has been developing in leaps and bounds, so has its medical services increased to meet local demands.

And with planned new hospitals in the Northern Metropolis along with current expansion and construction development, expertise is expected to increase and the dreaded waiting times for patients will be considerably reduced.

Hong Kong is poised to be the medical centre of Asia.

Currently, Hong Kong has about 36,000 beds in 43 public hospitals and 14 private hospitals. And already they are overcrowded, aided undoubtedly by an increasing aging population. Patients have to wait up to two hours for a consultation in public hospitals and up to a year or more for onward specialised bookings for appointment.

But that is about to change. Opening on December 11 in Tseung Kwan O will be the 400-bed Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong run by the Baptist University under the umbrella of the Health Bureau of the government and not to be confused with the Hospital Authority which runs all public hospitals and clinics in Hong Kong.

This is a major breakthrough for Chinese medicine (CM) to be fully integrated with research into western-Chinese medicines while serving the community. It will be the flagship for the 18 Chinese medicine clinics already operating in all districts in Hong Kong.

In its first year of operation, it will provide only outpatient 25 beds and day-patient services and six specialised CM services – internal medicine, external medicine, gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics and traumatology, and acupuncture and moxibustion. It will also provide 12 special disease programs including those for elderly degenerative diseases and stroke rehabilitation.

Inpatient services will start from late next year, with other services expanding year by year, including the remaining 11 special disease programs. It is expected that by the end of 2030, the hospital will provide full inpatient services with its 400 patient beds, as well as outpatient services of 400 000 annual attendances.

Construction is also well underway and above the foundations for the North District Hospital (NDH) extension in Sheung Shui. The expansion of NDH mainly covers the construction of a new hospital block, refurbishment, alteration and addition to existing hospital building, and the provision of associated internal roadworks as well as external and landscaping works. Upon completion of the expansion project in about 2028, the hospital will provide about 1,500 additional beds, atop of its 680 existing beds.

And then comes the mother of all hospitals: The Northern Metropolis Hospital in Ngau Tam Mei, south of Yuen Long, is developing a new integrated medical teaching and research hospital which will become the flagship hospital of the Northern Metropolis with about 3 000 beds, providing comprehensive healthcare services for the new population in the area.

Last year in his policy address, the Chief Executive John Lee announced plans for developing a new integrated medical teaching and research hospital which will become the flagship hospital of the Northern Metropolis, providing comprehensive healthcare services.

The area is a goldmine for development. Representing about one third of Hong Kong’s total land area, existing agricultural land and fishponds will be turned into a massive hub for international scientific and technical research and development.

In the First Hospital Development Plan, there are three projects in two clusters, including the expansion of North District Hospital, the redevelopment of Prince of Wales Hospital, and the extension of Operating Theatre Block for Tuen Mun Hospital. It is anticipated that a total of 1 950 additional beds and other hospital facilities will be provided by 2031 in the New Territories after the completion of the three projects, bringing the physical bed capacity in the east and west clusters in the New Territories to about 12 000 beds.

Most importantly on the backburner is a decision by the Chief Executive in Council (ExCo) last year that a site of about two hectares be reserved in the San Tin Technopole (between Yuen Long and Sheung Shui) for healthcare facilities “which may include private hospital use.”

A private hospital in the New Territories opens up many possibilities, including medical tourism.
The Chinese medical hospital will draw in many tourists from the mainland and Asia seeking medical help through traditional Chinese and western medicine methods. A tourism hospital situated along the Chinese boundary will boost tourism figures ten-fold.

A case in point is the Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. It is a classic example of how the private sector can benefit in healthcare. Founded in 1980, Bumrungrad International Hospital has been a global pioneer in providing world-class healthcare services and international patient support for nearly four decades. The hospital is an internationally accredited, multi-specialty hospital listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand since 1989. It is, perhaps the largest private hospital in Southeast Asia, caring for more than 1.1 million patients annually from more than 190 countries.

Mark Pinkstone

** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **

The race is on and Hong Kong is about to show the world how democracy works. It is a unique system where everybody gets a slice of the pie. But it is a system which the pro-democracy activists and doomsday sayers fail to understand.

Yesterday nominations closed for the 2025 Legislative Council elections with 161 nominations submitted – slightly up on the previous elections – for the 90 seats in the legislature.

The representation is wide in the Hong Kong system. The man in the street gets to vote for 20 seats. With a population of 6.5 million over the voting age of 18, there are about 4 million registered electors, so about 2/3s will be able to vote. That is democracy.

Then we have the functional constituencies with 30 seats and 60 candidates. This group ensures that all the trades and professions are represented. So, members in this group effectively get two votes – one for home and one for work. With two candidates for every seat there is bound to be plenty of competition.

Another 50 hopefuls have submitted their forms to vie for the 40-strong Election Committee constituency. This is the group that elects the Chief Executive. It actually has 1,500 members – 1,000 more than the election committee that picks the US President – but only 40 can sit on the Legislature.

That gives us 90 seats in the legislature with highly qualified men and women who are willing to give up their time to work for the betterment of Hong Kong. Nothing could be more representative than this mix of people in society to speak up for the underdog, the underprivileged, for the hardworking housewife… How dare the prophets of doom and the western media say there is no democracy in Hong Kong!

The western media continue calling media mogul Jimmy Lai a pro-democracy advocate. He’s not, and it was rarely mentioned throughout his trial. He is being tried for subversion and collusion with foreign governments. But democracy sells papers.

Now the race has begun, and the clash of titans heralds a new era for Hong Kong. Hopefully, the campaigns will bring out the voters, which is difficult in any country.

The man in the street is generally apolitical; he doesn’t care about politics and has enough of his own problems. Why should he go out to vote? It is necessary to ensure that the right people are picked to be representing the public at large and to stand up for injustices.

Apathy towards elections has gotten so bad in some places that 21 countries have introduced compulsory voting, including Australia, but excluding the US, UK and most of Europe.

This is not necessary for Hong Kong. In the last Legislative Councils elections in 2021, the voter turnout for the geographic constituencies was 30.2 per cent, which is par for the course.

But this year we hope to do better. The government is bound to roll out a series of campaigns urging its citizens to vote on December 7. Already Chief Executive John Lee has been touting the boy scouts at the rally with: "I’m calling on scouts and scout leaders who are eligible voters to actively take part in the elections, fulfilling their civic and social responsibilities."

Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Rosanna Law said she will feature in a video clip along with leading officials in her bureau to encourage the public to vote.

And Financial Secretary Paul Chan said that he has met with senior advisors to map out stronger promotional campaigns for the Legislative Council elections, adding that more than 30 departments and public bodies under the six policy bureaus must comprehensively intensify such efforts in the coming month.

However, it will be up to the candidates themselves to draw the voters out. Operation doorknock prevails and it will be up to him/herself to convince the eligible voter to vote.

A voter turnout rate higher than 30 per cent will generate profound international publicity to turn around the prophets of doom and instill newborn energy into the life of Hong Kong.