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Following is a question by the Hon Wong Yuk-man and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (October 16):
Question:
Quite a number of elderly persons have complained to me that the waiting time for cataract surgeries in public hospitals is exceedingly long, and that some patients who were registered in 2008 are still waiting for the surgeries. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it will ask the Hospital Authority (HA) to allocate additional resources for the Cataract Surgeries Programme to increase the number of subvented places each year, with a view to shortening the waiting time for cataract surgeries in public hospitals; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b) given that HA has set up cataract centres in Hong Kong West Cluster and Kowloon East Cluster respectively, resulting in a drastic reduction of the waiting time for cataract surgeries in those two clusters, whether it knows if HA will implement similar initiatives in Kowloon West Cluster?
Reply:
President,
Since the prevalence of cataract increases with age, it is expected that the demand for cataract surgery will continue to grow with the ageing population. In 2009, eye specialist out-patient clinics under the Hospital Authority (HA) put in place measures to prioritise cataract patients on the waiting list for surgery based on the urgency of their clinical conditions. For urgent cases, such as patients with both eyes suffering from cataract and with dense whitish and brownish cataract, surgery will be arranged within two months. For patients with special occupational needs or very poor vision in one eye, surgery will be arranged within 12 months. For patients who are in relatively stable clinical conditions and have better vision, follow-up consultations at eye specialist out-patient clinics will be arranged to monitor their development on a regular basis while they are waiting for surgery.
Apart from prioritising surgery according to the urgency of the clinical conditions of cataract patients and introducing in 2008 the Cataract Surgeries Programme (CSP), HA has set up cataract centres in Grantham Hospital and Tseung Kwan O Hospital in 2009 and 2011 respectively with a view to increasing the number of surgery. Meanwhile, HA has allocated additional resources to various clusters to increase the number of cataract surgery. The number of cataract surgery performed has increased from about 17 000 in 2008-09 to about 28 000 in 2012-13 while the notional waiting time has been shortened from 44 months in 2009 to 15 months in 2013. Moreover, HA has uploaded the notional waiting time for cataract surgery in various clusters on HA¡¯s website since April 2013, so that patients may know how long they need to wait in different clusters. Should patients want to receive treatment earlier, they may discuss with their doctors to see whether it is suitable for them to transfer to another hospital under HA where the waiting time for cataract surgery is shorter.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(a) Since the introduction of CSP in 2008, over 14 600 cataract operations have been performed. The Administration has allocated the necessary resources to HA to implement CSP by providing subsidies to patients to undertake cataract surgery in the private sector up to 2018. HA will closely monitor the situation and, where necessary, take appropriate measures to further enhance the Programme having regard to the growing service demand.
(b) At present, HA does not have plan to set up a cataract centre in the Kowloon West Cluster (KWC). In fact, HA has allocated additional resources to KWC, enabling the number of cataract surgery to increase from 2 076 in 2008-09 to 2 318 in 2012-13. Among those patients waiting for cataract surgery in KWC, 1 529 have participated in CSP.
In the future, HA will continue to implement CSP under a Public-Private Partnership delivery model, with a view to providing sufficient subsidised places to meet the demand of cataract surgery services in Kowloon West and also to the entire territory. The KWC Ophthalmology Department will keep on enhancing the transparency of its services to facilitate patients to transfer, under appropriate circumstances, to other clusters where the waiting time for treatment is shorter. HA will continue to monitor closely the waiting list for cataract surgery in KWC and take suitable measures so as to provide quality healthcare services for patients.
Ends/Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:43
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