Health | Locals prefer Hong Kong even for minor medical treatments

Conde de São Januário hospital

Macau’s medical professionals, as well as the medical system itself, are leading residents to give more money to neighboring Hong Kong as more and more Macau residents seek medical help in the neighboring region.
Data from the public hospital Conde de São Januário indicates that in 2014 2,000 patients were sent to Hong Kong for medical treatments. On average Macau spent about HKD200 million per year in providing the trips, according to a report by South China Morning Post.
In 2015, the region spent HKD7 billion on public health care, representing a jump from the HKD5 billion registered in the previous year.
Any non-local patients are obliged to pay HKD4,680 per day in order to stay in a Hong Kong hospital, whereas Hong Kong residents only have to pay HKD100 per day.
Despite the fact that Macau residents need to pay more in order to receive treatment in Hong Kong, they often still choose to go to the neighboring city for medical attention, even for minor treatments or medical check ups, the SCMP report points out.
Reasons behind this trend have been discussed at length in the city, and they mostly relate to the skills of Macau’s doctors.
The three hospitals in Macau, Kiang Wu Hospital, Centro Hospitalar Conde de Sao Januário, and the University Hospital of the Macau University of Science and Technology, have a significant number of doctors graduated from medical schools in mainland China.
The Kiang Wu hospital employs over 340 doctors, two thirds of which have graduated from Zhongshan School of Medicine or are trainees from the School of Medicine of Jinan University.