A community group on Wednesday welcomed the Hospital Authority’s new arrangement to cut the amount of medication distributed to patients.

It also said any possible fee increase should be limited to 10 percent.

Starting March 24, patients discharged from hospitals and those at specialist outpatient and general clinics will only get up to 24 weeks of medication each time.

Ivan Lin, a community organiser from the Society for Community Organisation (SoCO), noted that there are various reasons causing drug wastage.

He said, for instance, the long gap between each consultation meant patients didn't have the opportunity to talk to medical professionals if they suffer from unexpected side effects.

The Hospital Authority also said it was reviewing the HK$15 charge for 16 weeks of medication.

Lin hopes any increase would be below 10 percent.

“For grassroots patients, it’s very difficult to get a fee waiver,” he said.

“And also for, perhaps, lower middle class patients, it’s an ongoing expense, and some of the specific drugs are more expensive, way more than HK$15. So it’s still financial pressure for the lower middle class.”

Lin suggested expanding the fee waiver to cover Old Age Living Allowance recipients aged 65 or above, rather than the current threshold of 75 or above, and to also include recipients of the Working Family Allowance Scheme.

Lin also pointed out that the move to deliver medicine to patients' doorsteps since the service was implemented two years ago was "a good policy".

But he said the delivery fee of HK$65 poses a burden for grassroots patients.

Meanwhile, medical sector lawmaker Dr David Lam has suggested the authority should set up a multidisciplinary team comprising of public hospital doctors and pharmacists from community pharmacies.

"The pharmacist will give [the patients] a more detailed explanation on how to use the drugs," he said.

"And there should also be an opportunity for the patient to go back and see the pharmacist after taking the new medicine...[when they] can ask the pharmacist about some worries [they] might have after taking that medicine."
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Last updated: 2025-03-12 HKT 19:14