The government said on Wednesday that health authorities have approved the majority of medical fee waiver applications since new public charges were brought in at the start of the year.

As charges such as those for A&E visits were increased, the fee waiver was extended to cover more residents.

In a written reply to a query from lawmaker Kitson Yang, health minister Lo Chung-mau said officials have been receiving nearly 6,000 applications a day for the waivers.

Around 82 percent of applications have been successful and patients are given waiver certificates the same day, Lo said.

He added that in total, some 91,000 applications have been approved since November, with more than half of them conditional fee waivers.

The conditional waivers are given to patients with urgent medical needs, and they have to submit documents to prove their financial situation during the waiver's validity period.

Lo said around HK$9 million was spent on setting up special teams involving some 180 people to handle the applications.

"The Hospital Authority will closely monitor the volume of medical fee waiver applications and increase or redeploy personnel to the designated team as necessary to meet service demands, ensuring efficient resource utilisation and timely processing of citizens’ medical fee waiver applications," the minister said.