Hong Kong Health Bureau to begin chronic disease scheme

Residents aged 45 and above can enrol for the screening starting 13 November.

The Health Bureau in Hong Kong said the Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme will be launched on November 13, where qualified patients can undergo screening and be offered prescribed medications.

All Hong Kong residents aged 45 or above with no known medical history of diabetes mellitus (DM) or hypertension (HT) can enrol in the scheme at any District Health Centre (DHC) or DHC Express (DHCE) and pair with a family doctor for DM and HT screening and long-term follow-up, read the statement.

An updated roster of participating family doctors is available online, with over 330 family doctors for matching by citizens' own choice.

Under the scheme, “qualified people can undergo DM and HT screening, attend doctor consultations, receive laboratory investigations, and, subject to their health condition, be offered prescribed medication, follow-up care at nurse clinics and allied health services in the private healthcare sector by shouldering certain co-payment amounts with government subsidies under a co-payment model.”

Those interested can register as a member of any DHC/DHCE across 18 districts. They will then be assisted to pair with a family doctor upon giving consent to enrol in the Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHealth). 

People aged 65 or above may settle the co-payment fees with Elderly Health Care Vouchers, including that for consultations, services by nurse clinics and allied health, and laboratory investigations.

The paired family doctor will “give a medical consultation to participants and arrange laboratory investigations for them, followed by advice on the diagnosis.”

The Government has also set up an incentive mechanism where the participants who have achieved certain health incentive targets such as having their health indexes monitored and subsequently uploaded to the eHealth mobile application, attended follow-up consultations regularly, completed health education programmes or undergone specified examination as advised, they will enjoy a reduction of the co-payment fee with a maximum amount of $150 for their first subsidised consultation in the following programme year.