End-of-life care in Hong Kong severely lacking
24-Jun-16, South China Morning Post
Understaffed and undertrained, Hong Kong’s end-of-life care services struggle to meet needs of an ageing population, despite government plans to expand the stretched provisions to cover support for those who wish to die at home.
%20SCMP.jpg "End of life care in Hong Kong severely lacking (c) SCMP")
Image: South China Morning Post
Hong Kong has only 19 palliative care specialists – those who focus on providing physical and psychological care to patients suffering from terminal illness – and university training has been criticised by experts.
Palliative care could help a huge number of patients suffering from different chronic illnesses. The discipline remains unpopular, despite its establishment as a specialty in Hong Kong 16 years ago. "There is no private market... doctors cannot earn much. Only those with great passion would choose it," saidDr Michael Sham Mau-kwong, one of the doctors who introduced the specialty into the city.