Medical and Health Services

Medical and Health Services include activities of hospitals, other medical health institutions and nursing homes for the elderly; medical consultation and treatment; and dental practice activities. The Government has identified medical services as one of the selected industries which enjoys advantages for further development. Its value added was over $42 billion in 2016 (or 1.7% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)), increased by more than 8% compared with 2015. Currently, this sector employs over 90 000 people, of which over 14,000 doctors and 40,000 registered nurses. To respond to the population growth and demographic changes, particularly the challenges of our aging population, the Government has set aside $300 billion, as an initial provision, to support the second 10-year hospital development plan, improve clinical facilities of the Department of Health and upgrade healthcare teaching facilities. To further alleviate the manpower shortage of healthcare professions, the Government has committed that the Hospital Authority will have adequate resources to employ all local medical graduates. It is anticipated that more than 2,000 medical graduates would come on stream in the next five years. In addition, the Government is in discussions with the University Grants Committee to increase publicly funded training places for doctors, dentists, nurses and allied health professionals in the coming three years.