Food and Health Bureau invites EOI from Hong Kong in developing private hospitals

The Food and Health Bureau has invited expressions of interest (EOI) from Hong Kong and overseas parties in developing private hospitals at four sites in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The deadline for submitting EOI is March 31, 2010.

At a press conference, the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr. York Chow, said the promotion of private hospital development was one of the initiatives under healthcare reform and a major Hong Kong government policy announced by Chief Executive Donald Tsang in his 2009-10 Policy Address.

"The government aims to increase the overall capacity of the healthcare system of Hong Kong through the promotion of private hospital development, so as to address the imbalance between the public and private sectors in hospital services and to ensure our healthcare system can continue to provide quality healthcare services to the public, and to cope with the increasing service demand," Dr. Chow said.

Dr. Chow noted that Hong Kong was renowned for its high standard of professional healthcare as well as advancements in medical technology and equipment.

"Through developing private hospitals, it is hoped that our medical industry can turn into one of the industries crucial to the development of Hong Kong's economy," Dr. Chow added.

To achieve the goal, the bureau has proposed a set of special requirements for development of the four sites that have been identified and reserved for private hospital development. The special requirements cover aspects of restriction on land use, date of commencement of operation of the new hospital, bed capacity, service scope, price transparency, service standard and remedy for non-compliance.

The government will work out the appropriate land disposal arrangements for the four reserved hospital sites, including the means and timing for land disposal, the detailed special requirements and the land premium for the four sites, after considering all the responses and feedback received in the EOI exercise.

The EOI exercise is conducted on a non-committal basis and does not form part of the process for acquiring the sites by interested parties.