Elderly health voucher expanded to cover Guangzhou hospital as third service point

The coverage of the Elderly Health Care Voucher will be extended to the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou starting from Friday, the Department of Health announced today (Thu). 

This will be the third service point where Hong Kong elderly, eligible for the vouchers, can use them for outpatient healthcare services in the Greater Bay Area. 

The other two service points are operated by the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital and the Huawei Li Zhi Yuan Community Health Service Center. 

The department added that the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University is the first medical institution providing integrated services under the voucher’s GBA pilot scheme. 

Starting from Friday, the elderly will be able to use the vouchers to pay for outpatient healthcare services provided by the following 15 designated departments of the hospital. 

They include Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Surgery, Department of Ophthalmology, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Nutrition, Health Management Center and Department of Emergency Medicine, etc. 

A department spokesman also reminded that the scope of using the health vouchers in the mainland is the same as that in Hong Kong, which does not include inpatient services, prepaid healthcare services and day surgery procedures. 

“The health vouchers cannot be used solely for the purchase of goods, medication, medical equipment or products, nor can they be redeemed for cash,” he added. 

The fees for the healthcare services provided by the hospital are denominated in Renminbi. The hospital will make voucher claims for the elderly and the voucher amount deducted in Hong Kong dollars will be calculated according to a monthly updated conversion factor under the scheme. 

“The government is actively carrying out preparatory work with the remaining six medical institutions included in the pilot scheme, and is making good progress. These six medical institutions will progressively launch the relevant arrangements starting from the third quarter,” the spokesman said.