Views sought: Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Dr York Chow attends a public consultation session on healthcare financing.

The healthcare financing discussion paper aims to improve elderly services, Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Dr York Chow says.

Speaking after attending the Building A Healthy Tomorrow public consultation session today, Dr Chow said the Government is concerned the healthcare system will not be sustainable in the long term.

" I think many of our elderly might be staying at home or in old-age homes and deprived of proper medical and nursing care," he said, adding he wants the future model to improve services. "We need additional resources. We also require co-operation from different sectors."

Based on a consensus on the society's value of Hong Kong, the administration can come up with various models of financing.

"We need to know from our citizens whether they are willing to share some of the resources with others in terms of the pooling of risk management in insurance. And, secondly, whether they are willing to save up for the future."