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Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) made by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, at a media stand-up session after attending a radio programme this morning (October 7):
Reporter: Are you worried that the private hospitals will raise their fees after the implementation of the voluntary Health Protection Scheme?
Secretary for Food and Health: If there is a demand and supply issue, the price will be increased. We think that the supply capacity will increase in the coming years by about 30% to 40%, particularly in the next five to seven years, so that there will be enough competition to ensure that the price will remain at a reasonable level. The advantage of the Government's scheme is to be able to monitor the profit and administrative cost of insurance companies so that we can keep it at a low level. We can also monitor the claims from hospitals and doctors so that we know what type of trend it is and are able to advise on what is the correct level of charges or fees that is reasonable for our consumers.
Reporter: Will you guarantee that those who join the Government scheme will be able to enjoy private hospital services?
Secretary for Food and Health: Our purpose is to ensure the private services have the credibility to gain the public acceptance to overcome some of the weaknesses they have encountered at the moment. What we intend to do is to create a system of transparency and also accountability within the private system, so that the consumers will feel comfortable in using these.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
Ends/Thursday, October 7, 2010
Issued at HKT 16:31
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