Гонконгтың мемлекеттік ауруханаларын басқарушы органы

Statutory body managing government hospitals and institutes in Hong Kong

The Hospital Authority is a statutory body managing all the government hospitals and institutes in Hong Kong. It is under the governance of its board and is under the monitor of the Secretary for Health of the Hong Kong Government. Its chairman is Henry Fan.

Before the establishment of the Hospital Authority, all health and medical issues were under the management of the Medical and Health Department. In 1990, a new health administration system was introduced as part of the 1989 reforms. The establishment of the Authority served to rebuild state capacity amid the emergence of party politics in Hong Kong. The department became the Department of Health and in 1991, the management of all the public hospitals was passed to a new statutory body, the Hospital Authority, which was established on 1 December 1990 under the Hospital Authority Ordinance. In 2003, the General Outpatient Clinics of Department of Health were transferred to the authority.

According to the Hospital Authority Ordinance (Cap 113), the Chief Executive of Hong Kong appoints members of the Hospital Authority Board governing the authority. The present board consists of 27 members, including the chairman. Membership of the authority comprises 23 non public officers, three public officers and the chief executive of the authority. Apart from the chief executive of the authority, other members are not remunerated in their capacity as board members.

On the day when a Hong Kong girl was diagnosed as the territory's first victim of the 2008 Chinese milk scandal, anxious parents were frustrated to discover that doctors at the special unit set up at the Princess Margaret Hospital were taking the day off. Deputy Director of Health Gloria Tam said that it was "not something so urgent that it needs to be dealt with in 24 hours They can go during office hours tomorrow". Medical sector legislator Leung Ka lau said the lack of daily cover during the crisis was "insensitive". While the first victim left hospital after successful treatment one day later, two more children were admitted to hospital on 22 September; the Hospital Authority was reportedly overwhelmed when over 100 parents demanding check ups for their children at Princess Margaret amids confusion about referrals and registration procedures, causing Secretary for Food and Health, York Chow to grovel for having underestimated the problem. Chow pledged 18 additional facilities around Hong Kong would be operational the next day.

Waiting time for elective treatment is quite high. The average waiting time for cataract surgery in 2014 was 22 months.

In September 2022, Henry Fan Hung Ling, chairman of the Hospital Authority, lobbied for a "significant expansion" of traditional Chinese medicine used in Hong Kong's public healthcare. Days later, the Hospital Authority released information from a study it conducted, showing that traditional Chinese medicine could be used to cure long COVID. Rowena Wong Hau wan, the Hospital Authority's chief manager (Chinese medicine), said "The research has served as evidence on treatment of Covid residual symptoms with Chinese medicine." though Dr. Siddharth Sridhar of HKU said that the overcrowding was because elderly patients with COVID 19 were often sent to public hospitals even if the severity of their symptoms was low. Months later in November 2022, Lau Ka hin of the Hospital Authority said that public hospitals would be allowed to have COVID 19 positive patients with low symptoms to isolate at home instead of being treated at the hospital. Lau said that 60% of accident and emergency patients were taken in solely because of their COVID 19 positive result. All posts from the instagram account that disclosing the issue are no longer accessible since 14 March, 2023 after being ratted on.