The 6 million people who live in Hong Kong are known as one of the healthiest populations in the world. Healthcare in Hong Kong has some of the best statistical indicators of population health, when compared to other major cities worldwide.
For example, infant mortality is 3.0 per 1000 births in Hong Kong, which is the fourth lowest in the world. In New York City infant mortality is more than double at 6.2 per thousand births. Another example is life expectancy at birth which is 78 years, compared to 77.7 years in Tokyo and 76.1 years in greater London. Life expectancy in Hong Kong is the third highest in the world.
Statistics are useful indicators, but they don’t fully express quality-of-life and well-being.
Hong Kong’s Health System
Two important factors to look at when evaluating any healthcare system are access to primary care and avoidable mortality.
In Hong Kong, primary care is provided by practitioners in private fee-for-service practices. Only about 30% of the population has health insurance provided by the employer, which means that many residents delay visits for primary care to avoid paying out-of-pocket.
Statistics indicate this results in unnecessary admissions to overcrowded public hospitals because of conditions that could of been managed before they became more serious through a visit to a doctor. While Hong Kong’s health care system provides free or subsidized health care service to residents in more than 50 public hospitals and outpatient clinics run by the Hospital Authority, the public system is skewed towards emergency care.
For noncritical cases, patients can spend hours waiting to see a doctor. Physicians have very little time to treat patients and the focus is necessarily on immediate concerns, with little opportunity to consider integrated healthcare. Plus, residents are encouraged to be privately insured by the government. This relieves stress from the public system and provides access to more comprehensive care.
Avoidable Mortality
Although Hong Kong has a low grade of avoidable mortality in comparison to other major cities, when measured as a proportion of all deaths, Hong Kong has one of the highest proportions of avoidable mortality. This indicates that there is strong opportunity for healthcare in Hong Kong to achieve system improvements involving early intervention.
Specific Health Care Challenges
Hong Kong faces other healthcare challenges due to large population, emergencies resulting from climate change, barriers to health services for recent migrants, a high level of industrial accidents, a high incidence of infectious diseases, and extremely high levels of environmental pollution.
Opportunities For Improved Health Care
In our integrative medical practice we believe that early intervention is important to well-being and quality of life. We combine the best of Eastern and Western medical practices to nurture good health and promote the prevention of disease through healthy immune systems. Our therapists are trained to listen carefully to the patient and provide support for both physical and mental illnesses. Here is a list of some of the therapies we offer:
- General family medicine
- Allergy treatment
- Hypnotherapy
- Counseling
- Physiotherapy
- Osteopathic
- Chiropractic
- Acupuncture
- Traditional Chinese medicine
- Sports therapy
- Psychotherapy
- Nutritional advice
- Anti-aging therapies
You can learn more about specific therapies available in our Hong Kong Central medical practice by clicking therapies on our website. We treat all ages and welcome the opportunity to support the radiant good health with your family.
