A SURVEY OF THE HONG-KONG HEALTH SECTOR - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

This paper considers the involvement and performance in the health sec tor of the Hong Kong government prior to and beyond the transfer of so vereignty from Britain to China in July 1997. The paper commences with a historical survey of health services development, which provides in sights into why the health system functions in its present haphazard m anner. This section culminates by discussing the 1991 establishment of the statutory Hospital Authority which was an attempt to alleviate es calating problems in the administration of hospitals and public health services. Next, the paper surveys the present, discussing, respective ly, the roles of government and private service providers, health care outcomes and the contribution of traditional Chinese medicine. Finall y, the paper outlines a range of pressing issues which Hong Kong's fut ure policy-makers will need to confront: the organization of the healt h sector, health financing and the health policy deficit. In the concl usion, it is posited that there is a need for government to formulate a health policy and to clarify its role in the provision of services. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.