The Government announced today that it will gradually provide free COVID-19 oral drugs, namely Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, to private doctors to enable them to prescribe such drugs to suitable coronavirus patients.

The Food & Health Bureau explained that as the guardians of Hong Kong's public health and the well-being of citizens, all healthcare professionals in the city have an obligatory duty to stand at the forefront of the fight against the epidemic and mobilise all available manpower to support various anti-epidemic measures.

In addition to enlisting support from private hospitals and private doctors in the fight against the epidemic in different roles earlier, the Government is calling upon private doctors to help treat the patients to reduce the risk of deterioration of their clinical conditions.

The bureau emphasised that private doctors should accord priority to support and treat high-risk patients as far as practicable, including the elderly aged 60 or above, children aged five or below, women at 28 or more weeks of pregnancy and immunocompromised patients.

It added that private doctors should not charge patients any fee for the COVID-19 oral drugs.

The Government pointed out that it is optimising relevant computer systems, including the Electronic Health Record Sharing System, to allow private doctors to register the information of patients who have been prescribed COVID-19 oral drugs.

It will issue letters to private doctors in due course to explain the arrangements that include drug distribution and registration of patient information.

At present, the Hospital Authority (HA) prescribes Paxlovid and Molnupiravir to patients at various facilities, including HA hospitals, community treatment facilities, designated clinics and residential care homes for the elderly.

As at April 1, the HA has prescribed Paxlovid and Molnupiravir to over 7,100 and 15,800 patients respectively.