The decision to establish a central registry for liver transplantation and to centralise all liver transplant operations in Queen Mary Hospital was made in consultation with all parties concerned.
Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong told legislators that these included the management of Queen Mary and Prince of Wales Hospitals, and the faculties of medicine of both the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University.
Patients concerned were also consulted before combining the two lists.
Patient groups kept informed
Dr Yeoh said that in January a special meeting was convened to hear their concerns and to address them.
When the two liver transplant waiting lists were combined and the central liver transplant registry was put into operation in July, the patient groups were informed of this progress at around the same time.
Late last month a meeting was further convened to brief the patient representatives on the progress of centralisation of liver transplant centres.
Dr Yeoh said the Hospital Authority has no plan to merge other transplant centres but will keep abreast of international developments on the topic.
Cardiac services meeting demand
Meanwhile, Dr Yeoh said the total number of cardiologists (specialists accredited by the Academy of Medicine) in public hospitals as at January 31 was 62.
Their workload was around 1,000 attendances for each cardiologist in 2001.
Dr Yeoh said the authority's medical clinics, including cardiac ones, have implemented a triage system since last year to identify urgent cases for early appointment on the basis of standardised criteria and protocols.
He said the system has helped the cardiac clinics prioritise their services to meet demand.
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