The Hospital Authority (HA) has said it will continue to expand its remote consultation services so that more patients can benefit, especially those living in rural areas.

The HA's remote service programme allows eligible patients to make appointments and seek advice from doctors via an app, without having to visit clinics or hospitals in person.

The HA says it has served more than 45,000 patients since the app was launched two years ago.

Dr Joanna Pang, a chief medical informatics officer at the HA, said those who were invited to join the scheme tended to be chronically ill patients who are nevertheless in a stable condition.

"For the patient selection, most of the time we will select patients we consider as stable, or [someone] having a chronic disease, such that upon the consultation most of the time during the follow up, we may use the teleconsultation to follow up the case," she said.

She stressed that the service is accessed a voluntary basis, and that service quality is no different from that found in traditional consultations as both are guided by the same protocols.

In a pilot scheme in August, the HA said it had worked with the Tai O rural committee to provide remote consultation for an 80-year-old patient living on Lantau island.

It said the patient used to have to travel more than an hour from Tai O to a hospital in Tung Chung for regular checkups, but that she was now able to consult doctors online with the help of the rural committee’s staff.

Dr Michael Wong, a chief manager with the HA, said online consultations had saved a lot of time for patients living far away from medical hubs.

"Now she can go to the rural committee office and receive service there just by telemedicine. It saved the time for travel, and saved hassle for her family to bring her all the way from Tai O to Tung Chung. This definitely benefits [the patients] in terms of time and convenience."

Wong added that the authority will work with NGOs and more rural committees to cover more rural areas.