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Pay rise to deal with flu peak

2019-12-06T09:42:31.732Z


Entering the peak season of winter influenza, the emergency rooms and wards of public hospitals exploded again, and the occupancy rate of medical beds on Thursday (December 5) reached 103%. The Hospital Authority announced a number of contingency measures on Thursday (November 28).


01 perspective

Written by: Comment Editor

2019-12-06 17:30

Last updated: 2019-12-06 17:31

Entering the peak season of winter influenza, the emergency rooms and wards of public hospitals exploded again, and the occupancy rate of medical beds on Thursday (December 5) reached 103%. The Hospital Authority announced a number of contingency measures last Thursday (November 28), and public hospitals will reserve resources to open 900 temporary beds as needed. The HA has also recruited an additional 455 part-time doctors at the end of September, and will adjust the special remuneration plan from January 1 to May 3 next year, arrange to provide overtime allowances, and increase the amount by 20% during the tight public holidays Attract doctors to fight the flu. However, all measures can only cure the symptoms at the peak of the flu. To curb the load of public hospitals, a major reform is always needed.

The Hong Kong Government cannot evade the reality of a shortage of medical staff and give up everything. (Profile picture)

Add labor ≠ add staff

The HA's special remuneration scheme to improve overtime treatment for medical staff is an encouragement to medical staff willing to work overtime. However, increasing the salary of public hospital staff can only attract people in theory. Hospital work requires shifts, and there is a great demand for mental and physical strength. Actually, how many people are willing to work overtime for extra salary, we cannot overestimate. There is always an upper limit for overtime, and if medical staff lacks rest, it may become another medical hazard. Moreover, the choice of work belongs to the freedom of doctors. Doctors in the public hospitals have long working hours and poor treatment. They often need to spend time on non-clinical administrative work. The working environment of public hospitals is not good. Many doctors resigned and left for the private institution. The HA's special remuneration plan is a contingency plan and cannot be used as a remedy. The treatment of doctors in public hospitals, as well as the content of their work, remains to be reviewed by the Hospital Authority in the long run.

The demand for public hospitals is increasing, but the staffing is far from sufficient. The heavy workload has caused medical staff to "jump", and the vicious circle of insufficient staffing is deeply trapped. The Hospital Authority's overall doctor turnover rate reached 6.4% last year, a record high in ten years. The academy was already understaffed, but more people left the academy, and the pressure of work was on the verge of exploding. Fan Hongling, who took over as the new chairman of the Hospital Authority this month, bluntly stated that with high churn rates, public hospitals "will continue to collapse sooner or later, and hope that they will not collapse during their tenure." The shortage of staff in public hospitals must be addressed by the government and all sectors of society in the coming years. Just adding 900 new beds in public hospitals without enough doctors and nurses to co-operate.

Insufficient medical services, the problem is always the shortage of manpower. If the root cause is not treated, it will only get worse. At present, the proportion of doctors per thousand population in Hong Kong is 1.9 and the proportion of nurses is 7.1, which are lower than those of Singapore (2.3 and 7.2) and Japan (2.5 and 11.6) in the same district, and lower than those of OECD member countries. Average (3.4 and 9.0). In the future, the situation will even worsen. According to the "Medical Manpower Planning and Professional Development Strategy Review Report" announced by the government in 2017, the shortage of doctors in Hong Kong will reach 500 in 2020, and the doctor gap will be more than 1,007 in 2030. In order to solve the problem of shortage of doctors in Hong Kong's public hospitals in the long run, the fundamental solution is to increase government funding, cultivate local medical personnel, and strive to improve the working environment of public hospitals. The Hong Kong Government cannot evade the reality of shortage of medical staff and give up everything.

The government should take a two-pronged approach to influenza. On the one hand, long-term medical reforms are carried out, and on the other hand, short-term vaccination is not forgotten. (Profile picture)

Prevention is better than cure

Long-term medical development and the cultivation of medical personnel will become the future subject of the Hong Kong government. However, the peak of the flu is imminent. To relieve the urgent need, the public must be vaccinated against the epidemic. However, the effectiveness of its promotion has been questioned, and some grassroots were unable to vaccinate because they could not afford it. The vaccination rate last year was only about 15%. A survey by the Hong Kong Community Organizations Association found that since the government began to relax funding for vaccination for people aged 50 to 64 last year, the vaccination rate has not increased significantly. The government should consider increasing funding to fully fund vaccination of high-risk individuals and reduce community transmission.

Some citizens have pointed out to the media that even with government funding, vaccination still requires an average private doctor's fee of about 100 yuan, so they did not go to vaccination, and nearly 30% of respondents even said they could not afford the fee. The Department of Health has subsidized vaccination. It should be done more thoroughly. The private doctor's fee for vaccination of citizens should be included in the scope of funding, or refer to the arrangements for senior citizens aged 65 or above. Patients in public hospitals will be vaccinated free of charge at the General Outpatient Clinic of the Hospital Authority.

The government should take a two-pronged approach to influenza. On the one hand, long-term medical reforms are carried out, and on the other hand, short-term vaccination is not forgotten. Every year during the flu peak, it will put great pressure on the public medical system. To vaccinate people at high risk of influenza, the government should encourage free vaccination in the region on the premise that it is free and convenient. For example, it can cooperate with district council and other organizations to fund the regionalization of vaccination by the government, and send professional medical staff to open free vaccination stations in the area, which is convenient for citizens and reduces the burden on public medical institutions.

Economic downturn should not be an excuse for austerity

01 perspective

Public Hospital Hospital Authority Fan Hongling Medical System 01 Viewpoint

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2019-12-06

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