Health in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's medical infrastructure consists of a mixed medical economy, with 12 private hospitals and more than 50 public hospitals. There are also polyclinics that offer primary care services, including dentistry. Hong Kong has two medical schools, one with the University of Hong Kong (the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine) and the other with the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Medical graduates obtain the MBChB or MBBS, based upon the British model. There are also schools of nursing, both public and private, and training for professions allied to medicine, including a school dedicated to dentistry. The Hospital Authority is a statutory body established on 1 December 1990 under the Hospital Authority Ordinance to manage all 38 public hospitals and institutions in Hong Kong. It is mainly responsible for delivering a comprehensive range of secondary and tertiary specialist care and medical rehabilitation through its network of health care facilities. The Authority also provides some primary medical services in 74 primary care clinics. [cite web|url=http://www.ha.org.hk/hesd/nsapi/?MIval=ha_visitor_index&intro=ha%5fview%5ftemplate%26group%3dAHA|title=About Hospital Authority|publisher=The Organisation of Hospital Authority|accessdate=2007-11-13]

Hong Kong's 12 private hospitals have partnered with the United Kingdom for international healthcare accreditation. All 12 private hospitals are "Trent Hospitals", having been surveyed and accredited by the United Kingdom's Trent Accreditation Scheme. [cite web|url=http://www.1stor.co.uk/trentaccreditationscheme.org/accreditation/hk-accreditation.htm|title=Accreditation Details of Hong Kong Hospitals|publisher=Trent Accreditation Scheme|accessdate=2007-10-31] The Hong Kong Academy of Medicine is an independent institution with the statutory power to organise, monitor, assess and accredit all medical specialist training and to oversee the provision of continuing medical education in Hong Kong. [cite web|url=http://www.hkam.org.hk/|title=The homepage of Hong Kong Academy of Medicine|publisher=HKMA|accessdate=2007-11-13] In addition, The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada has also accredited the postgraduate medical education (1994-present) in Hong Kong and allowed these graduates from the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine seeking RCPSC Certification and practising in Canada. [cite web|url=http://rcpsc.medical.org/residency/certification/img_page2_e.php|title=Postgraduate Medical Education systems (PGME) for International Medical Graduate (IMG) applicants seeking RCPSC Certification|publisher=The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada|accessdate=2007-11-13]

The Department of Health, under Food and Health Bureau, is the health adviser of Hong Kong government and an executive arm in health legislation and policy. Its main role is to safeguard the health of the community through promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services in Hong Kong. [cite web|url=http://www.dh.gov.hk/eindex.html|title=Homepage of the Department of Health, the Government of Hong Kong SAR|publisher=Hong Kong government|accessdate=2007-11-13] The main function of the department includes child assessment service, immunisation programmes, dental service, forensic pathology service, registration of healthcare professionals etc, though boards and councils (i.e. Medical Council of Hong Kong, Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Hong Kong) are independent statutory bodies established under the relevant ordinances that operate independently to discharge their statutory functions. [cite web|url=http://www.dh.gov.hk/english/main/main_rhp/main_rhp.html|title=list of main services of the Department of Health, the Government of Hong Kong SAR|publisher=Hong Kong government|accessdate=2007-11-13]

Hong Kong is one of the healthiest places in the world. [cite web|url=http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/brandhk/0128005.htm|title=Hong Kong health indices among world's best|publisher=Government of the Hong Kong SAR|date=2003-01-28|accessdate=2008-02-01] Because of its early health education, professional health services, and well-developed health care and medication system, Hongkongers enjoy a life expectancy of 84 for females and 78 for men, [" [http://www.who.int/bulletin/en/Law0103.pdf Healthy life expectancy in Hong Kong] ". World Health Organization. Retrieved on 07 June, 2008.] which are the second highest in the world, and 2.94 infant mortality rate, the fourth lowest in the world. [cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html|title=Rank Order - Life expectancy at birth|publisher=The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency|date=2008-01-24|accessdate=2008-02-01] [cite web|url=http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2006/WPP2006_Highlights_rev.pdf|title=World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision|publisher=United Nations|year=2007|accessdate=2008-02-01|format=PDF]

Hong Kong has high standards of medical practice. It has contributed to the development of liver transplantation, being the first in the world to carry out adult to adult live donor liver transplant in 1993. [ [http://www.springerlink.com/content/b22j18812426564k/fulltext.pdf Live Donor Liver Transplantation: Current Status] ]

ee also

*List of hospitals in Hong Kong
*Immunisation Programme in Hong Kong
*Medical education in Hong Kong

References