Lawmaker David Lam's suggestions to ease wait time at public hospitals

Patients in Hong Kong often need to grapple with longer waiting times at public hospitals or clinics.

Speaking on TVB's Straight Talk programme, medical sector lawmaker Dr. David Lam says as more citizens travel up north to receive healthcare services alongside strengthened primary care services in Hong Kong, that could ease the strain on the public medical system.

Lam also suggests introducing tiered subsidies for public healthcare services to better allocate resources.

Lawmaker (Medical and Health Services Constituency) Dr. DAVID LAM: "How you can divert people who have the means to go elsewhere. When they go elsewhere, you have to make sure that they can really pay comfortably, either through their own pockets or through insurance. And for those who are coming in to the public healthcare system, you should ensure that the queue is reasonable, not too long. And money or the fee is the biggest and easiest handle for reallocating the resources and how people would go."