Medical Services

Healthcare system in Hong Kong is of high standard and served with dedicated healthcare professionals. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government supports the development of Hong Kong's quality healthcare services in the Greater Bay Area. The Government has also been actively promoting the comprehensive high-quality development of Chinese medicine, include strengthening Chinese medicine services, establishing two flagship institutions namely Hong Kong's first Chinese Medicine Hospital and Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute (GCMTI) as well as promoting talent nurturing, scientific research, public education and industry development, etc.

• Hong Kong's healthcare system ranked the most efficient healthcare system among the 56 economies covered in a study conducted by Bloomberg in 2018.
• Under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), statutory healthcare professionals who are registered to practise in Hong Kong are allowed to provide short-term services in the Mainland.
• The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKU-SZ Hospital), wholly invested by the Shenzhen Government and managed by the University of Hong Kong, is a comprehensive public hospital. Since its operation in July 2012, the HKU-SZ Hospital has been providing healthcare services to the public in addition to undertaking research and teaching.
• The HKSAR Government has launched the Pilot Scheme at the HKU-SZ Hospital in October 2015 to enable eligible Hong Kong elders to use health care vouchers to pay for the fees of outpatient services provided by designated clinics/departments of the HKU-SZ Hospital. The Pilot Scheme has been regularised with effect from 26 June 2019.
• Taking reference from the experience gained from the Special Support Scheme during the epidemic, the Government launched the “Pilot Scheme for Supporting Patients of the Hospital Authority in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area” in May 2023, such that Hong Kong citizens with scheduled follow-up appointments at designated Specialist Outpatient Clinics or General Outpatient Clinics of the Hospital Authority may receive subsidised consultations at the HKU-SZ Hospital.
• As a facilitation measure for Hong Kong residents working and living in the Greater Bay Area to seek healthcare services, the Central Government issued the work plan for regulatory innovation and development of pharmaceutical and medical device in the Greater Bay Area on 25 November 2020 that the use of Hong Kong-registered drugs and common medical devices are allowed in designated Hong Kong-owned healthcare institutions in the Greater Bay Area. Up to October 2024, 43 Hong Kong registered drugs and 43 medical devices are allowed to be used in 45 designated healthcare institutions in the Greater Bay Area.
• The Hospital Authority launched the Healthcare Talent Exchange Programme earlier, covering professions like doctors, nurses and Chinese medicine practitioners, etc. with a view to enhancing exchange of professional knowledge and experiences with healthcare counterparts in provinces/ regions and municipalities in the Mainland including the Greater Bay Area.
• As one of the initiatives benefitting Hong Kong under the Construction Plan for the Chinese Medicine Highlands in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (2020-2025) (Construction Plan), Hong Kong-registered proprietary Chinese medicines for external use are able to be registered and sold in the Mainland through streamlined approval procedures since August 2021, facilitating Hong Kong manufacturers to expand their markets and creating favorable conditions for Hong Kong's proprietary Chinese medicines to “go global” in the long run.
• The HKSAR Government has been promoting and encouraging Hong Kong registered Chinese medicine practitioners to practice in public healthcare institutions in the Mainland, based on the framework of the CEPA and the Construction Plan. Public Chinese medicine healthcare institutions in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai, as pilot sites, recruited Hong Kong registered Chinese medicine practitioners on a contractual basis in 2021, enabling Hong Kong Chinese medicine practitioners to work within the national healthcare system, thereby providing them with greater development opportunities while cultivating a larger pool of Chinese medicine talent for Hong Kong.