The resources and equipment of private clinics must not be comparable to those of public or private hospitals. If further blood tests and imaging tests are needed, the clinic doctor will refer the patient to a nearby laboratory to do the tests and get the results to come back for a follow-up. In addition, patients who are more complicated and need to be hospitalized, or have wounds that cannot be treated with simple bandages, are also beyond the scope of private doctors, and are usually referred to public or private hospitals for further treatment.
Regarding the fees charged by private clinics, I have mentioned it in the previous round. For general cold, flu and diarrhea, the fee is around HK$300-500 for a registered consultation and 2-3 days of medication. Of course, charges vary from clinic to clinic and doctor to doctor, so this figure is just a reference. Tests such as blood sampling and radiographs will be charged separately. If the doctor is a specialist, the charges are even higher.
Speaking of which, let's talk about what is a general practitioner and a specialist.
Private doctors display their credentials in the most prominent place in the clinic, and some even have a long list of qualifications. In fact, to be qualified to practise medicine, a doctor must first obtain a basic undergraduate degree in medicine: Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.
In Hong Kong, MBBS is the abbreviation for Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery graduates from the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, while MBchB is the abbreviation for the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. After completing five years of medical school and obtaining the degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, all graduates are required to do a one-year internship in a public hospital. During this year, interns are called Houseman or Intern, and they are expected to practice in Internal Medicine Surgery +/- Gynecology Pediatrics as the first line of clinical care in the wards of public hospitals.
Do you remember watching "onCall 36 Hours"? It is the portrayal of Hong Kong's intern doctors. Upon completion of the one-year internship, the Medical Council of Hong Kong issues a License of Registration (LOR), which allows the doctor to become a general practitioner and practice medicine independently.
After qualifying as a GP, most doctors choose to stay in public hospitals under the HA to complete their specialty training. Doctors choose a specialty, such as medicine, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, or anesthesiology, and undergo 6-8 years of training, during which time they pass the Academy exams to become a specialist.
Doctors also pursue further education by enrolling in relevant courses. If these courses are recognized by the Medical Council, they can be displayed as qualifications. These courses are usually written as certain diplomas or certificates, which are only subsidiary qualifications compared to the MBBS degree and specialist qualifications. Hong Kong doctors can really be called layers of screening!
Because of the longer professional training, specialists generally only see outpatient clinics in their own relevant specialties; and there are fewer of them compared to general practitioners, seeing a specialist in private practice usually requires an appointment, and the fees are higher, with consultations around a thousand Hong Kong dollars, and follow-up tests can be even more expensive. It is usually patients with special needs who seek emergency care from specialists. For example, Hong Kong parents tend to take their children to private pediatricians' clinics.
Hong Kong has a high quality healthcare system that is unmatched on the mainland, which is why, emigrating to Hong Kong has always been a popular choice for many immigrants!