Civil servants bare teeth in push for Shenzhen services

Wallis Wang

The Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants' Association is urging the government to prioritize providing dental care services for civil servants in Shenzhen as it is closer than other cities in the Greater Bay Area.

The call comes after Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan recently said authorities were studying allowing government employees to receive their free dental treatment in the Greater Bay Area should they choose to do so.

Association president Li Kwai-yin welcomed the proposal by the government and suggested it arrange for civil servants to receive dental care at top hospitals in Shenzhen, such as the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, that can provide high-quality services.

Li also said the government could consider purchasing dental services from private institutions in Shenzhen, as long as they can guarantee service quality.

"Shenzhen is a more feasible option for civil servants, as it is quicker for them to travel there compared to other cities in the Greater Bay Area," Li said.

A survey in August found that 57 percent of civil servants are willing to receive dental services in the mainland and that most prefer Shenzhen due to the relative convenience in getting there.

"The scope of dental services provided should be expanded beyond just scaling," Li said. "Clinics should offer basic treatments like fillings and extractions as well."

Currently, civil servants have to wait 40 months between scaling appointments, and often face long delays for other more urgent dental work.

To address the shortage of dental services here in the short term, Li urged the authorities to speed up the implementation of pilot schemes for medical record sharing with the mainland.

She also said the government should enhance cooperation between the public and private medical sectors to tackle the shortage of dentists in Hong Kong.