The Health Bureau said today that the introduction of the Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme will not affect services provided to grassroots citizens under the public healthcare system, as it responded to a media report on the scheme.

The scheme targets citizens aged 45 or above who are not aware of having hypertension, diabetes mellitus or related symptoms. By subsidising part of the costs as an incentive, the Government aims to encourage citizens to receive early screening.

The bureau said it was concerned by a media report published today in relation an elderly person who was hospitalised twice for high blood pressure but had not continued her medical treatment or attended a follow-up consultation at a General Out-patient Clinic.

As the patient had an existing record of hypertension and had received appropriate treatment during her two stays in hospitals, the bureau explained, she would not have been a target participant of the screening service provided under the scheme.

The bureau pointed out that the media outlet concerned had not checked with it about the case before running the story. It added that due to the report’s sketchy nature, it was unable to verify the information contained in it or extend assistance to the elderly individual in question. It added that such reports may give rise to public misunderstanding about the scheme and chronic disease treatment more generally.

The bureau reiterated that the scheme is the first significant project launched under its Primary Healthcare Blueprint, and is aimed at preventing the worsening of chronic diseases through early identification and early treatment.

To encourage citizens to take up primary responsibility for managing their own health, the scheme adopts a Government-participant co-payment model.

Citizens with greater financial means can be triaged to family doctors in the private healthcare sector, thereby alleviating the pressure on the public healthcare system and sparing its capacity to better serve citizens with greater financial need.

The bureau stressed that the public healthcare system will continue to be the basic safety net for grassroots citizens, in particular socially disadvantaged groups, and that the scheme’s introduction will not affect services provided to them under it.