In December 2022, the government announced the “Primary Healthcare Blueprint” to strengthen the development direction and strategies of the local grassroots healthcare system.

To gather opinions from stakeholders, the Primary Healthcare Office organised the “Primary Healthcare Blueprint Forum” on 19 January 2023, inviting operational groups from District Health Centres (DHCs), organisations of persons with disabilities and patients, and local residents.

General Secretary William Chan Hei Lung and Project Officer Wilson Lau Kwok Lam were invited to attend the forum and shared their opinions on the “Blueprint”, including:

• Ensuring prompt and appropriate services for patients, with sufficient coordination between grassroots healthcare and other medical services, both public and private.
• Establishing the critical role of patient organisations in the practice and development of grassroots healthcare.
• Concerns about the staffing levels of the Primary Healthcare Office, now transformed into the Primary Healthcare Commission (PHC Commission), fearing inadequate manpower to coordinate grassroots healthcare services across the city.
• The current positioning, operations, and performance of DHCs and DHC Expresses have not met expected outcomes.
• Proposal to establish a “Grassroots Healthcare Funding Programme” to support organisations of different scales in planning projects to promote grassroots healthcare and create synergy with DHCs and DHC Expresses.

We will continue to monitor the implementation and practice of the “Primary Healthcare Blueprint” and work towards advancing grassroots healthcare efforts.