Lawmakers and political advisers attending the annual meetings of China’s top legislature and political advisory body have called for more efforts to further promote health care integration in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
Further coordination and integration will help improve the GBA’s overall health care level and bring quality health services to its residents, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported, quoting the lawmakers and political advisers.
Ma Guangyu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), emphasized the importance of cross-border flows of health care-related elements as well as the convergence of rules and standards.
Ma pointed out that there are still strict restrictions when it comes to market access for medical institutions and professionals in the GBA. The number of mainland medical institutions eligible to use drugs and devices introduced under the “Hong Kong and Macao Medicine and Equipment Connect” policy is also too small and related customs clearance procedures and applicable policies are not clear enough, Ma noted.
The political adviser, who is also vice chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CPPCC, suggested that the validity of Hong Kong and Macao physicians’ licenses be extended from the current three years to five years. The scope of practice and other restrictions should also be relaxed to attract more medical professionals from Hong Kong and Macao to work in other parts of the GBA, Ma said.
He also proposed that a public health information sharing mechanism be established among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. “Without a long-term and coordinated infectious disease surveillance platform for immediate response, there might be a delay in epidemiological investigations,” Ma said.
Cai Weiping, a deputy to the National People’s Congress, said the differences in vaccine planning and regulation among the three regions have caused great inconveniences to Hong Kong and Macao residents living on the mainland. Vaccines widely used in Hong Kong and Macao should be allowed to be used as nonmandatory vaccines in designated mainland hospitals in the GBA, Cai suggested.
Different vaccines used for the same disease in the three regions should be mutually recognized and relevant vaccination records should not become a precondition for schooling, employment or mobility, he said.