Govt proposes to extend health vouchers application to various GBA hospitals: sources

The government is mulling extending the application of health care vouchers on the mainland to cover more hospitals located in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), with details to be announced in the upcoming Policy Address, according to sources.

Apart from the hospitals and medical institutions in Hong Kong, the elderly can only use their health vouchers in the mainland at the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital and its health centers.

Sources have said that the initial target is to extend the voucher application to three to five Tier 3 Class A (Grade 3A) hospitals in the GBA, along with setting guidelines to provide more cross-border medical services to facilitate Hong Kong residents living there.

However, due to the relatively complex administrative work and having to connect with the local medical system, it is not feasible for a large number of Grade 3A hospitals to be covered under the health care vouchers scheme immediately.

The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) said over 500,000 Hongkongers live in the GBA on a long-term basis and hopes the voucher coverage will be expanded to hospitals in Guangzhou, Dongguan, etc.

Kingsley Wong Kwok, chairman of the FTU, stated that there aren't many Grade 3A hospitals located in areas where lots of Hongkongers reside and hopes that the government picks one to two hospitals in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Zhongshan in order to facilitate Hongkongers enjoyment of the health vouchers.