Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    A SHENZHEN hospital signed an agreement with the Hong Kong Association of Senior Citizens on Tuesday to offer 24-hour emergency medical care and patient referral services to Hong Kong’s senior citizens traveling and residing in Shenzhen.

    The University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital was chosen in October 2015 to pilot Hong Kong government’s Elderly Health Care Voucher program, becoming the first hospital outside Hong Kong where the Hong Kong government has allowed elderly residents to use government-subsidized vouchers.

    As of December 2016, more than 3,000 Hong Kong senior citizens have used the Hong Kong government health care vouchers at the hospital, and the hospital’s traditional Chinese medicine division, cardiology division and ophthalmology division are the most popular among them, according to the hospital. The vouchers can be used to cover outpatient expenditures, and a Hong Kong senior citizen is allowed to use health care vouchers worth up to US$2,000 every year.

    The agreement reached Tuesday further expands the services, providing Hong Kong elders, who mostly reside in Shenzhen, with urgent medical care as easily as they can receive it in Hong Kong.

    In Hong Kong, members of the Hong Kong Association of Senior Citizens can ring a bell they bring with them if they need emergency care and the association will notify a hospital to help them. Now, if they ring their bells in Shenzhen, the University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital will provide urgent care after they receive the notice from the association.

    Elderly people residing in Hong Kong can also use their health care vouchers at the Shenzhen hospital.

    The association has also promised to provide patients’ Hong Kong medical records to the hospital if they use the emergency medical services at the Shenzhen hospital. The hospital can also help transfer patients back to Hong Kong or elsewhere for further treatment if needed or requested. The services are not covered by the Hong Kong government vouchers.

    According to the statistics published by Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department in September 2011, there were about 73,600 Hong Kong residents aged 60 or above residing in Guangdong Province, of which 10,400 reside in Shenzhen.