Health Bureau condemns reports about Macau’s medical service

1-r-m-6i0a9974

“Ultimately the problem for Macau is that it simply does not have the infrastructure to cater to the spectrum of residents’ health care needs.”, SCMP report

The Health Bureau (SSM) has contested a South China Morning Post report that criticized the city’s medical service. “Earlier, a report alluded that because of the lack of infrastructure and professionals, Macau’s hospitals have been sending patients to Hong Kong for treatment. Such report mislead people, and it needs to be clarified,” the statement read.
SSM has claimed that as Macau has a small population and has only a few special clinical cases, it in turn has no western medicine university. The bureau claims that by sending the patients to Hong Kong for treatment the inadequacies of Macau’s medical services are compensated for. They added that it also ensures that they obtain timely treatment,.
In 2015, 1.6 out of 1,000 patients were sent to Hong Kong, according to the official data. SSM considers that this figure “indicates that patients’ referral percentage is extremely low, and it is only a supplement to local medical services.”
The medical authority also claims that it is introducing a set of sophisticated medical services: the Centro Hospitalar Conde de São Januário (CSCHJ) is set to provide endobronchial ultrasonic examinations from this year. Macau is also able to provide other highly sophisticated medical treatment, such as kidney transplants and endovascular therapy, which have already been performed or will be performed on the patients.
SSM says “CHCSJ is the same with many Hong Kong governmental hospitals, it obtains the accreditation from Australian Council of Healthcare Standards (ACHS), which means the hospital’s service and management reaches international levels.”
Moreover, “local medical professionals have the ability to diagnose and treat more diseases” said the SSM.
The SCMP report published on Monday claimed that Macau residents often opt to receive medical treatment in Hong Kong, even in minor cases. “Ultimately the problem for Macau is that it simply does not have the infrastructure to cater to the spectrum of residents’ health care needs. It has very few specialists and not a single training school for Western medicine,” the report reads.
It also points out that the majority of doctors working in Macau’s hospitals are graduates from medical schools in mainland China. JZ

Categories Headlines Macau