Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ13: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Following is a question by the Hon Alan Leong and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative
Council today (November 27):
Question:
In reply to my question on July 10 this year concerning chronic
obstructive pulmonary (COP) disease, the Secretary for Food and Health
indicated that since 2011-2012, the Government had provided additional
recurrent funding of $44 million for the Hospital Authority (HA) to
expand the clinical application of long-acting bronchodilators for
treatment of COP disease. Yet, some members of the public have relayed
to me that only those receiving treatments at the specialist out-patient
(SOP) clinics under the Respiratory Medicine Division (RMD) had been
prescribed with that drug, whilst those receiving treatments at the
general out-patient (GOP) clinics and the out-patient clinics under the
General Medicine Division (GMD) had not benefitted from the measure. In
this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it
knows:
(a) the criteria adopted by HA for referring patients diagnosed to be
suffering from COP disease (COP patients) to the SOP clinics under RMD;
(b) the respective numbers of COP patients at the SOP clinics under RMD
in various hospital clusters at present;
(c) if HA has collected data on COP patients at GOP clinics; if HA has,
of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d) the respective amounts out of the aforesaid funding currently
allocated by HA to the SOP clinics under RMD, GOP clinics and the
out-patient clinics under GMD?
Reply:
President,
Since 2011-12, the Government has provided additional recurrent funding
of $44 million for the Hospital Authority (HA) to expand the scope of
the clinical application of long-acting bronchodilators. About 7 500
patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary (COP) disease
benefit from the measure each year. HA will prescribe appropriate
medication and provide appropriate treatment for patients according to
their clinical conditions. The long-acting bronchodilators mentioned in
the question is a special drug in the Drug Formulary and is usually
prescribed by respiratory medicine specialists.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(a) HA will, having regard to a patient's clinical conditions, including
clinical history and major signs and symptoms, smoking habit, chest
X-ray film and pulmonary function, make an integrated diagnosis and
provide follow-up treatment as appropriate. In general, COP patients in
stable condition and without the need for frequent in-patient treatment
will be followed up by general out-patient (GOP) clinics, while those in
more critical condition and with the need for frequent in-patient
treatment will be followed up by specialist out-patient (SOP) clinics.
(b) The SOP clinics of the Medicine Division under HA provided services
for around 627 000 patients in 2012-13. As HA does not assign codes to
SOP patients by disease type, statistics on COP patients receiving
treatment at SOP clinics are not available.
(c) The GOP clinics under HA provided services for around 14 500 COP
patients in 2012-13.
(d) As mentioned in the above paragraphs, HA will make assessment and
diagnosis according to the clinical needs of individual patients at
different stages and refer them to the appropriate SOP and GOP clinics
for follow-up treatment. HA does not compile statistics on medical
consultations and referral cases and the related resources deployment at
SOP and GOP clinics, hence a breakdown of the respective funding is not
available.
Ends/Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:58
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