The Department of Health today signed service agreements with five medical institutions under the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme.

Meanwhile, the department announced that three of the integrated services/dental services institutions located in Shenzhen will launch the Elderly Health Care Voucher (EHCV) Scheme on August 14.

The Chief Executive's 2023 Policy Address put forward the pilot scheme initiative to extend the coverage of the EHCVs to suitable medical institutions in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) this year.

The pilot scheme covers a total of seven medical institutions, among which the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou (FAH-SYSU) and Zhongshan Chen Xinghai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine (ZSCXH) located in Zhongshan launched the service on June 28 and July 18 respectively.

Witnessed by Secretary for Health Prof Lo Chung-mau, Director of Health Dr Ronald Lam today signed the service agreements with representatives of the five remaining medical institutions.

The five medical institutions are Nansha Division of the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University in Nansha (FAH-NS), Dongguan Tungwah Hospital in Dongguan, Shenzhen New Frontier United Family Hospital in Shenzhen (NFUFH), Shenzhen C.K.J Stomatological Hospital in Luohu District of Shenzhen, and Dental Bauhinia Specialty Service Center (Shenzhen)/Dental Bauhinia General Care Center (Shenzhen) in Futian District of Shenzhen.

Following the signing of agreements and successful implementation of the projects, EHCVs will be allowed to be used at NFUFH, C.K.J Hospital and Dental Bauhinia in Shenzhen starting August 14. The fees for the healthcare services provided by the three medical institutions are denominated in renminbi.

Together with the two service points operated by the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital at its hospital and the Huawei Li Zhi Yuan Community Health Service Center, as well as the FAH-SYSU and ZSCXH under the pilot scheme, eligible Hong Kong elderly people can use the EHCVs for outpatient healthcare services at seven bay area service points.

The department said that C.K.J Hospital and Dental Bauhinia are both professional dental service institutions located near the Lo Wu and Futian Control Points.

It noted that this first participation of professional dental service institutions under the pilot scheme marks a major breakthrough in the implementation of the EHCV Scheme on the Mainland.

Hong Kong seniors using EHCVs at any designated medical institution in the GBA should have registered with eHealth ahead of time. After joining eHealth, they can make use of its mobile app to check their EHCV balance and usage record, as well as access at any time important information such as their medications, allergies and adverse drug reactions stored in the eHealth app.

For those who have not yet registered with eHealth but wish to use EHCVs at the GBA medical institutions, such institutions will register them for eHealth upon their consent so that they can use EHCVs right away.

Moreover, seniors cannot use EHCVs together with national medical insurance to pay for the fees of the same healthcare service encounter. The scope of using EHCVs on the Mainland is the same as that in Hong Kong, which does not include inpatient services, prepaid healthcare services and day surgery procedures.

Furthermore, EHCVs cannot be used solely for the purchase of goods, medication, medical equipment or products, nor can they be redeemed for cash.

The Government is carrying out preparatory work for launching the use of EHCVs with the last two medical institutions under the pilot scheme, ie FAH-NS and Tungwah Hospital. It is expected that the two medical institutions will launch relevant arrangements in early September.

The EHCV Scheme subsidises eligible Hong Kong elderly people aged 65 and above with an annual amount of $2,000, with the accumulation limit set at $8,000, to enable them to choose private primary healthcare services that best suit their health needs.

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