Health Survey | Hospitals received 59,000 in-patients during 2017

The number of in-patients in local hospitals rose slightly by 1.8 percent year-on-year to 59,000, according to the results of a health survey released yesterday by the Statistics and Census Service.

There were five hospitals in Macau in 2017, providing a total of 1,596 in-patient beds. The occupancy rate of in-patient beds dropped by 1.2 percentage points to 70.8 percent, representing the second consecutive year of decline.

Hospital out-patient attendances increased by 4 percent year- on-year to 1,698,000, of which consultations in internal medicine (276,000) accounted for 16.3 percent, followed by those in physiotherapy & rehabilitation (234,000) and general surgery (189,000). Emergency attendances decreased by 0.9 percent year-on-year to 473,000.

According to the survey, there were 702 primary health care establishments, including public health centers, private clinics in 2017, down by 17 year-on-year. The total number of consultations rose by 0.9 percent to over 4 million. Consultations in general practice decreased by 1.8 percent year-on-year to 1,165,000, accounting for 29 percent of the total, followed by those in Chinese medicine (1,141,000) and stomatology/odontology (254,000).

According to the survey, the number of cases of dialysis treatments increased for eight years in a row, growing by 9.4 percent year-on-year to 100,000. A total of 365,000 doses of vaccine were administered in hospitals and primary health care establishments in 2017, up by 18.6 percent year-on-year; vaccinations against Influenza totaled 109,000 doses.

The number of blood donations totaled 14,288 in 2017, up slightly by 1.1 percent year-on- year. A total of 10,391 persons donated blood in 2017, down by 3.3 percent year-on-year, with first-time blood donors decreasing by 8.9 percent to 2,951.

According to the administrative information from the Health Bureau, there were 1,730 doctors and 2,397 nurses in 2017, up by 0.2 percent and 2.3 percent respectively year-on-year.