The Hospital Authority (HA) today announced that from March 6, all sick leave certificates it issues will adopt a digital signature to replace the manually signed paper certificates.

The authority’s Chief Manager (Cluster Performance) Dr Larry Lee said the digitisation of the medical certificate is an important milestone in the development of the smart hospital, streamlining the process of telehealth services.

The digitally signed medical certificate, like the manually signed one, includes the patient's name and the information relevant to the medical consultation.

The electronic certificate will be automatically stored in "My Record" under the HA Go mobile app feature "MyHealth".

Patients can use it for sick leave applications or as proof of consultation. For those patients issued with an attendance certificate, the electronic version will also be stored in HA Go.

The electronic medical certificate can be verified by scanning its encrypted QR code and inputting the patient's name and sick leave date.

Convenience is enhanced as the patient will receive an electronic medical certificate immediately if he/she is granted sick leave after a teleconsultation and will not need to return to the hospital or clinic to obtain the certificate after the consultation, the HA noted.