The Health Bureau (SSM) is proposing the licensing of a new type of private medical institution known as “day hospital” whose service level ranges between a hospital and a clinic, as a 30-day public consultation was announced yesterday and will start today.
Day hospitals are a new type of medical institution becoming increasingly popular in more countries and regions, providing certain medical services that previously could only be provided by hospitals. As its name suggests, day hospitals do not run inpatient services.
Currently, Macau’s medical institutions in the private sector only comprise hospitals and clinics. The government is proposing that the future day hospitals can provide less intensive, outpatient surgical procedures and other specialty medical services, which currently can only be provided by hospitals.
The government’s proposed establishment of day hospitals aims to enable the city’s private healthcare sector to offer more diversified choices of medical services thereby promoting the development of Macau’s big health sector and its projected “healthcare + tourism” model.
The bureau announced the public consultation, which will run until May 16, during a press conference on its premises yesterday, which was hosted by SSM Director Alvis Lo Iek Long and several other SSM officials.
The public consultation is about the bureau’s proposal to establish a new legal system for licensing and regulating medical institutions in the private sector.
Proposed legislation drafted by the government must be passed by the legislature to become law.
Addressing yesterday’s press conference, Dr Lo noted that his bureau’s licensing of privately run medical institutions in Macau is currently regulated by two decree laws promulgated in the 1990s, respectively regulating hospitals and clinics, when Macau was still under temporary Portuguese administration.
Dr Lo said that with the aim of enabling Macau to better benefit from rapidly advancing medical technology and to better meet the latest developments in its private healthcare market, the government has decided to propose improvements to the city’s current legal system for licensing and regulating privately run medical institutions.
Dr Lo underlined that the government’s proposed new legal system aims to boost the development of Macau’s healthcare sector and promote innovations in the provision of services by privately run medical institutions.
Dr Lo noted that with medical technology advancing, the “day-hospital” operation model has been rapidly developing worldwide, adding that the local government’s proposed licensing of day hospitals aims to expand development opportunities for Macau’s private healthcare sector by creating favourable conditions for private medical institutions to provide more diversified choices of medical services.
Dr Lo said that the future day hospitals will enable residents and visitors alike to gain access to more “high-quality” medical services, encouraging more visitors seeking alternative medical services elsewhere to choose to visit Macau thereby promoting the development of Macau’s big health sector and its projected “healthcare + tourism” model.
Dr Lo also said that the government aims for the future day hospitals to boost investments in launching new services in Macau’s private healthcare sector as well as new customer sources, thereby creating new job opportunities for local health professionals.
The health chief underlined that his bureau has drafted the proposed amendments to the city’s current legal system for licensing privately run medical institutions after referencing the respective systems in the mainland and a number of other countries and regions while also considering Macau’s current situation.
According to yesterday’s press conference, the bureau is proposing that the future day hospitals can provide outpatient surgical procedures and other specialty medical services only requiring a relatively short time of diagnosis and treatment, which currently can only be provided by hospitals.
Dr Lo also said that the future day hospitals can provide non-hospitalised surgical procedures and other specialty medical services with the length of diagnosis and treatment lasting up to 12 hours.
Dr Lo noted that the proposed new system will enable certain less intensive, non-hospitalised surgeries which currently must be provided by hospitals to be carried out by day hospitals in the future, thereby relieving pressures on the operations of conventional hospitals. He also said that the future operations of day hospitals would not cause extra competition to private clinics.
Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long speaks during yesterday’s press conference about the public consultation on the government’s proposed licensing of day hospitals. – Photo: SSM
