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Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals
Hong KongHealth & Environment

Leave eyeglasses out of medical voucher scheme for elderly rather than cap spending, Hong Kong’s optometrists say

  • Vincent Ng, vice-president of Hong Kong Society of Professional Optometrists, says it is unfair to set a ceiling for their services
  • He suggests providing eye tests only under the voucher scheme

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Elderly residents should have the freedom to spend what they want on glasses, a trade body says. Photo: Sam Tsang
Ernest Kao

Hong Kong health authorities should exclude eyeglasses from the elderly health care voucher scheme instead of imposing a blanket spending cap on optometric services, a trade group representing the industry said on Tuesday.

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The government on Monday proposed a HK$2,000 (US$256) cap every two years on the value residents could spend on optometric services using their vouchers in a bid to stop patients from using the money all in one place – as was increasingly the case.

But Vincent Ng Sheung-shun, vice-president of the Hong Kong Society of Professional Optometrists, said it was unfair to set a ceiling for optometric services – which many elderly people needed – and not other areas covered by the scheme, and suggested an alternative.

Elderly residents get HK$2,000 a year in vouchers for private medical services. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Elderly residents get HK$2,000 a year in vouchers for private medical services. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

“Our thinking is this – the elderly have to get their eye tests so why not just provide the examinations only [under the scheme’s coverage]?” he said on a radio programme on Tuesday. “That way, we go back to just providing a professional assessment. If the elderly really need spectacles, they will still have to buy them regardless of health care vouchers.”

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Ng said this was something the trade and society could further discuss.

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