Medical Commission discusses advertisements, outreach services
In its latest plenary meeting, the Medical Commission discussed short to long-term regulating and monitoring of medical advertising and boasted about the efficiency of outreach medical services.
Currently, medical advertisements are strictly restricted and supervised in Macau. For example, all materials identified by the Health Bureau (SSM) as medical advertisements must obtain prior approval from the bureau before publication.
Medical related materials are also strictly monitored.
Certain medical professionals have told the Times that not even their pricing tables are allowed to be disseminated out of their clinics, for example though being expressed orally over the phone and online.
Commission president Alvis Lo, who is a pulmonologist at the public hospital and the director of the SSM, commended the commission for its long-term proactive investigations into the medical advertising supervisory scheme and for having provided a multitude of “valuable opinions, which were considered by the Medical Activities Licensing Team of the SSM.
U Kuai Kuan, representative of the licensing team, explained the relevant regulatory system and optimization measures in detail, mainly with regard to the content of advertisements for medical establishments and medical personnel that can be published, providing examples of non-medical advertisements, online applications for medical advertising approval, information platforms for medical service providers and law amendments, and others.
The participating members put forward their opinions and suggestions on how to determine whether an advertisement was of a medical nature, the supervision of medical advertisements on social media networks, as well as the promotion of medical services or products by non-medical service providers.
On outreach medical services for residents at aged care residences, Lo said that 12,756 counts of users were served in 2022, with 9,492 counts in specialist services and 3,264 in general medicine.
He further underlined that the target of the services encompasses three directions: servicing, enabling and destressing. The services have helped older residents with mobility limitations to access medical services, Lo added.
