The Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan (right), and the Chairman of the Council and the Court of the Hong Kong Baptist University, Dr Clement Chen (left), officiating at the Chinese Medicine Hospital Commissioning Launch Ceremony.
Construction began this week on Hong Kong’s first Chinese Medicine Hospital. It will be located at Wan Po Road, Tseung Kwan O, next to the Fire and Ambulance Services Academy. After opening in 2025, it will provide combined Chinese and Western treatments for people with chronic, painful illnesses.
The site for the new hospital in Tseung Kwan O.
The hospital will have 400 beds, 200 Chinese medicine practitioners and care for hundreds of thousands of people a year when its outpatient services are included. It’s a public-private partnership with the Baptist University. Government subsidy of $1 billion a year will mean sixty-five per cent of patients will have their care subsidised.
Chinese and Western medical practitioners will collaborate in the new hospital with Chinese medicine predominating. A research centre will develop new medicines and treatments. Students from three universities will be trained there.
Project director Dr Cheung Wai-lun said people with chronic illnesses may seek Chinese medicine as an option for relief. “A lot of patients seeking medical care cannot completely relieve their symptoms,” Dr Cheung said, “because all their pain may not be identified even through Western medical techniques. Secondly there is a multi-factorial situation affecting the pain, even psychological, so the Chinese Medicine Hospital, from the start of service, will provide a programme to manage chronic pain.” He said patients recovering from strokes or other illnesses may benefit from mixed treatment.
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