The Legislative Council debated a non-binding motion to promote aging-in-place and build an age-friendly community.
Moving the motion, Election Committee lawmaker Chan Cho-kwong pointed out that Hong Kong faces the challenge of an aging population.
Chan suggested enhancing medical-social collaboration by establishing discharge support standards for high-risk elderly individuals to ensure they receive proper assessments, home-based rehabilitation, and community care services after leaving the hospital.
He also proposed leveraging public-private partnerships to provide affordable gerontech product rentals and subsidies, while expanding the network of recognized service units under the Community Care Service Voucher scheme.
Chan suggested simplifying conversion procedures so elderly residents can flexibly combine rehabilitation, meal delivery, home cleaning, and day care services according to their needs.
Meanwhile, Kowloon Central lawmaker Kitson Yang Wing-kit expressed concern that individual areas such as Wong Tai Sin currently lack a hospital with an accident and emergency department, arguing that the government should re-plan the emergency service network.
Yang recommended strengthening the development of a barrier-free community by installing elevators in older public housing estates and improving MTR station exit facilities.
Furthermore, he urged authorities to tackle severe delays and stalled projects involving certain elevator installations in recent years by strictly vetting contractors' bidding capabilities.
