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■目前正值流感高峰期，有醫院內科病房佔用率高達130%。 資料圖片
近日本港公立醫院急症室、內科病房持續爆滿，病人忍受長時間輪候之苦。人口老化加劇，公營醫療面對的壓力更沉重，政府有必要增撥資源應對。
目前正值流感高峰期，公立醫院無論是急診室還是病房皆人滿為患。過去一個月，公院急症室的使用人數頻超可承受的極限，伊利沙伯醫院內科病房佔用率曾高達130%，入院病人平均等候時間逾15小時。人多候診時間長，患者和前線醫護人員都叫苦不迭。
人口老化進一步加劇，現有的醫療設施和人力資源已難以滿足不斷飆升的公共醫療需求。政府可投放更多資源，提升公共醫療服務，興建更多公立醫院，增加床位，改善醫療服務效率，讓更多市民受惠。
解決當下公立醫院的燃眉之急，加強公私營醫療機構合作不失為有效之策。醫管局除了靈活調配轄下的醫療資源和人手，還應該積極提供經濟誘因，推出公私合作計劃，鼓勵、吸引私家醫院和私家醫生為病人提供服務，分流一部分的病患，減輕公立醫院的壓力，令患者免受長時間等待之苦，早日獲得治療。（文匯報社評10-3-2016）
Public-private partnership will ease lack of wards
Patients suffer long waiting times as overcrowding continues in local public hospital emergency rooms and medical wards. With growing concerns in population ageing, the public healthcare system is likely to be stretched even further in the future, and the government should allocate resources accordingly in order to deal with the challenge.
Facing the recent peak flu season, Accident & Emergency (A&E) Departments and medical wards of public hospitals are packed to the brim. In the past month, A&E Departments were constantly swarming with patients. Queen Elizabeth Hospital's wards' have even recorded a bed occupancy rate of 130 per cent, with the average waiting time exceeding 15 hours. Patients, nurses and doctors alike suffer dearly amid the overcrowding crisis.
Since the number of elderly people is projected to rise in the future, the current healthcare facilities and manpower will be insufficient to meet the soaring needs in public health. The government should allocate extra resources to enhance the public healthcare system, and increase the number of public hospitals and beds available to improve the efficiency of the local healthcare system, covering and benefiting more citizens.
To relieve the current burdens of public hospitals, public-private partnership can be a way out. Redistributing manpower and resources, the Hospital Authority should look to provide economic incentives for the private healthcare sector, which aim at establishing public-private partnerships that encourage private hospitals and doctors to boost services. Not only can the burden on public hospitals be eased, patients who could not stand the long waiting time will receive treatment sooner elsewhere.
■Jeffrey Tse [ywc_jeffrey@hotmail.com]
Learning Point
Pay attention to the bold words：
- overcrowded medical wards
- stretched public healthcare system
- wards packed to the brim
- A&E departments swarming with patients
- soaring needs in public health
隔星期三見報
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