Secretary for Health officiates at kick-off ceremony of Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme (with photos)
13.11.2023

The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, officiated at the kick-off ceremony of the Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme (CDCC Pilot Scheme) today (November 13) to mark the official launch of the first major initiative set out in the Primary Healthcare Blueprint. He called on eligible persons to take action in commencing a healthy life journey by participating in the Scheme through enrolment as a member of District Health Centres (DHCs) and pairing with a family doctor. Professor Lo said, "The CDCC Pilot Scheme is a brand-new subsidy scheme. With government subsidies, members of the public only need to pay an affordable co-payment amount to receive screening and follow-up services in the private healthcare sector with respect to diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HT). The Scheme will surely create a 'win-win-win' situation and greatly benefit citizens, doctors as well as the healthcare system as a whole." He said that under the CDCC Pilot Scheme, the Government will make the best use of the community healthcare networks with DHCs as the hub for the prevention and management of chronic diseases and establishment of a family doctor system. "By utilising the strength of the private healthcare sector to alleviate the pressure on the public healthcare sector, we will be able to focus our resources in the public healthcare system more on caring for the underprivileged. "I am delighted that the healthcare community are all supportive of the Government in promoting primary healthcare. Our latest figures show that over 400 family doctors being our important partners by joining the Scheme, involving nearly 30 healthcare organisations and covering 600 service points. With this strong force of family doctors, I encourage citizens to seize the opportunity to pair with a regular family doctor through the Scheme, and establish a long-term doctor-patient relationship with mutual trust. I also hope that citizens can partner with family doctors to live a healthy life to realise the slogan of today's kick-off ceremony, 'Partnering in the Health Journey for a Healthy Life'." The kick-off ceremony, held at the Sham Shui Po DHC today, brought together nearly 100 guests from various backgrounds, including representatives from the public and private healthcare sectors, patient organisations, the Department of Health, the Hospital Authority (HA) and the DHCs to show their full support for the Scheme. Dr Lam Wing-ho, who practise as a family doctor, gave his strong support to the CDCC Pilot Scheme. At the kick-off ceremony, he shared his experiences in collaborating with the DHCs and successful cases in which patients' health conditions were improved through adopting a healthier lifestyle. Starting today, the DHCs and DHC Expresses located across the 18 districts in the city will assist Hong Kong residents aged 45 or above with no known medical history of DM or HT to register for the CDCC Pilot Scheme, serving as the first point of contact for citizens to participate in the Scheme. Upon enrolment as a DHC/DHCE member and giving consent to enrol in the Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHealth), eligible citizens will be assisted by the DHC/DHCE to pair with a family doctor of their choice. Apart from the co-ordination work, DHCs/DHCEs also support family doctors in a case manager model and utilise their service networks to facilitate the delivery of inter-disciplinary primary healthcare services. Furthermore, DHCs/DHCEs follow up on the medical arrangements for participants according to the recommendations of family doctors and set health management goals together with the participants for building a healthy lifestyle. The service flow, government subsidy level and co-payment amount of the CDCC Pilot Scheme are stated in the annexes. The list of family doctors participating in the Scheme, details and frequently asked questions of the Scheme are also available on the CDCC Pilot Scheme dedicated website ( www.primaryhealthcare.gov.hk/cdcc/en ) for public reference. Members of the public may as well call the hotline at 2157 0500 for inquiries. Dedicated staff of the hotline will answer calls from 9am to 9pm from Mondays to Saturdays. Other officiating guests of the kick-off ceremony were Legislative Councillor Dr David Lam; the Permanent Secretary for Health, Mr Thomas Chan; the Under Secretary for Health, Dr Libby Lee; the Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam; the Chairman of the HA, Mr Henry Fan; and the President of the Hong Kong College of Family Physicians, Dr David Chao.