Refund offer for hospital patients in bid to ease CNY emergency room queues

Semi-urgent and non-urgent patients who see private doctors after waiting long hours at emergency rooms during the Lunar New Year holiday can apply for a refund within 24 hours of registration, Hospital Authority chief executive Tony Ko Pat-sing said.

Ko said that the quota of general out-patient clinics will be increased to 8,000 during the four-day holiday starting Saturday and the authority will deploy more staff on the final two days.

Public hospitals will implement a special refund arrangement for emergency rooms from February 9-18, with hospitals refunding payments within one month, he said.

If a patient is classified as non-urgent or semi-urgent after registering and paying fees but feels the wait time is too long or wants to go to a private clinic instead, they can apply for a refund within 24 hours of registration.

"The refunds will be returned through electronic payment services within one month," Ko said.

This is to free up space in emergency rooms to provide faster service to those most in need, he added.

Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said that during the long holiday, the authority's general outpatient clinics will increase services by 25 percent.

"The number of clinics providing services during the Lunar New Year holiday period will also increase from 14 to 18," Lo said.

He said that Chinese medicine outpatient clinics will have 1,800 subsidized service quotas available daily during the holidays.

Nearly 100 private clinics and hospitals have indicated they will provide services during the period while 250 Chinese medicine clinics will extend service hours on February 10-17.

Lo said outpatient clinics providing services during the holiday period will also be displayed on maps through the eHealth and HA Go mobile apps.

Emergency rooms are for treating severe and urgent patients and are a precious medical resource, he said, as he urged the public to seek other treatment options for conditions like colds, flu or minor injuries.

Lo said another cold wave might hit during the holiday as temperatures will drop, which may lead to an increase in cases of respiratory infection.

Although the influenza rate this winter flu season has recently dropped to 4.9 percent, he said this is likely a temporary fluctuation.

He reminded the public that the winter flu season lasts eight to 10 weeks.

Covid sewage surveillance data are currently stable and the new JN.1 variant virus has been completely replaced the XBB variant, he said.

He said the holiday may trigger another outbreak, so the public is advised to get flu and Covid vaccines and maintain good personal hygiene.