The Hospital Authority on Saturday said it was confident that operations would continue to run smoothly when fee adjustments took effect on January 1.

The main fee for accident and emergency unit consultations will be raised from the current HK$180 to HK$400 in the new year, with exemptions made for patients who need urgent care or are critically ill.

Speaking after attending an RTHK programme, director of cluster services Wong Yiu-chung said a lot of preparatory work had gone into dealing with potential issues that might arise as a result of the fee adjustments.

"From changing the operational system to manpower arrangements, as well as routine arrangements and communications, both internally and externally, we have done a lot of work," he said.

"We know that citizens want to know about the details of the reform, so we also hosted a lot of talks and exchange forums with citizens, media and patient associations to communicate how the situation will run under different circumstances."

Wong said more than 100 specialised teams had been deployed across different hospital clusters to assist patients in applying for fee waivers.

More than 1,000 ambassadors will also be deployed in hospitals to provide help in the initial phase, he said.

Chief manager Priscilla Poon said medical fee waiver certificates would be issued either on January 1 or before the appointment date to eligible patients who had filed applications.

About 1.4 million people can benefit under the fee-waiving mechanism after the authority implemented enhancements to the scheme in October.

Up until last week, the authority has received over 50,000 applications.

Poon said patients with financial difficulties requiring immediate medical attention on or after New Year's Day, but had not applied for a fee waiver yet, could sign a declaration and submit requisite documentation within three months to qualify for a "conditional waiver".

She also called on people to visit the accident and emergency wards only when they were feeling unwell, instead of rushing in before the fee adjustments took effect.