By: Tiffany MaEdited by: WANG Yichun

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced more funding support for the Hospital Authority in his budget address today, raising dissatisfaction among the private and public healthcare sectors. Mr Chan’s policies included providing more than $5 billion to the Hospital Authority to support the anti-pandemic work, increase manpower and services in the public healthcare system, promote the development of Chinese medicine and enhance mental-health services. “Under the current epidemic, the HA will utilise the resources to further enhance public hospitals’ capability in managing infectious diseases,” HA chairman Henry Fan Hung-ling said at the Legislative Council today. However, government support for the private sector was nonexistent. “The private sector and its doctors are suffering under the pandemic,” said Philip Lai, a pharmacy owner in Kowloon City.  The majority of Mr Lai’s clients are local residents, and his pharmacy suffered a 30% drop in revenue since the pandemic began last year. “I deal with clients who want better drugs and medicines that are not available in public hospitals,” Mr Lai said. “But if the public sector gets more funding, they can offer higher quality medicine. Then why would anyone buy medicine from pharmacies?” Private clinics also suffered a drop in patients due to the pandemic. Tracy Hui, a nurse, said her private clinic had a 40% drop in patients. “I didn’t expect the government to support us. But if they could provide any support, it would be best if they could help us in terms of rent,” said Ms Hui. The public sector also showed dissatisfaction with this year’s budget address. “The policies were not about health, they were about security and IT.” said Dr Arisina Ma, president of Hong Kong Public Doctors association.  Dr Ma pointed out that the budget address only covered paint-by-number policies, including increased isolation beds and mental health …

A health expert on the government’s COVID-19 advisory panel denied on Monday that the mainland’s Sinovac Biotech vaccine is being exempted from peer review. Professor David Hui Shu-cheong stressed that the vaccine will not be approved for public use before the data is published in a medical journal.  “We are just trying to have an earlier meeting based on information that they provided to the World Health Organization or to the China National Medical Products Administration so that we can actually have some data to work on,” said Professor Hui, a respiratory medicine expert from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The government announced last Friday that it would consider whether Sinovac should be approved for use in Hong Kong based on Phase 3 clinical data the company submitted to the World Health Organization. Sinovac said earlier that it was having difficulties compiling the relevant information for publication in a short period of time, according to a government press release. Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee denied yesterday that the government was  lowering its standards with the exemption. He explained that the publication process typically takes two to three months, including a lengthy peer review process where the manufacturer has to answer all questions presented by its external referees.  “Eventually they will be able to publish,” Professor Hui said. “But we don’t want to wait for two to three months doing nothing.” The government ordered 7.5 million doses of the Sinovac Biotech vaccine in December 2020. Delivery was expected in January, but was delayed because the advisory panel was awaiting for more clinical information. Sinovac has provided the Department of Health with its Phases 1 and 2 clinical data, based on studies in Brazil and Turkey. The Phase 3 clinical data has been submitted to the World Health …