Hong Kong’s health authorities proposed a raft of measures to improve price transparency among private hospitals and clinics earlier this week, in a bid to attract more people to use their services and relieve pressure on the public sector.

The Post looks into why the government is taking a bolder approach to the local private healthcare sector.

1. What are the concerns about price transparency?

The Consumer Council earlier criticised private hospitals for their lack of transparency when it came to pricing information and charging mechanisms, and published a study in March that looked into the problems faced by patients.

The consumer watchdog also said that not all day procedure centres disclosed their prices online, and the information they did share was often not very comprehensive.

The information provided by the private hospitals could also be difficult for ordinary consumers to understand, according to the council.

There were also discrepancies in prices for the same type of treatment in different private hospitals. For example, the bill for surgery for removing haemorrhoids varied from HK$33,881 (US$4,370) to HK$85,387.