A patients' rights group says it hopes the government can use AI chatbots in its triage system at public hospitals to help patients gain a better understanding of their conditions and symptoms.
“I have used the UK emergency service as well,” WeCareBill Foundation co-founder Kelly Yim said in RTHK's Backchat programme on Friday.
"I find it quite useful when they have the AI chatbot to do the challenging bits, like differentiating the level of emergency of a patient.
“I'm just thinking maybe we can do this with nurse consultations or triages, and try with more advanced technology so that maybe this risk [of misjudgements] can be mitigated.”
Some people have expressed worries about being charged more because of being categorised wrongly during triages when the revamped healthcare charges come into effect from January 1.
Under the changes, "critical" and "emergency" patients being treated at accident and emergency (A&E) wards will have their charges exempted, while fees for “urgent”, “semi-urgent” and “non-urgent” patients will be raised to HK$400 from HK$180.
The government has relaxed income and asset limits to expand eligibility for medical fee waivers and said about 1.4 million people are expected to benefit from the tweaks, up from 300,000.
On the same programme, an official from the Hospital Authority reiterated that the revamp is aimed at focusing resources on serving those in need.
“With all these measures, we are trying to reserve our healthcare resources [in order to help, in particular, acute, serious and critical patients]," the authority’s chief manager in allied health, Priscilla Poon, said.
“But at the same time, we won't forget [the less well-off sections of the public].
“So that's the reason why we need ... balance.
"We need to impose some kind of relaxation of our waiver mechanisms and safety net in order to help ... the poor, who are not really actually supported by other, say, private services.”
Meanwhile, a former A&E doctor also urged the government to prioritise the implementation of advanced technology to help cope with a manpower shortage.
Aaron Lee, who’s now a clinical assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong, said the new fees planned for emergency wards at public hospitals could reduce the burden on staff.
But he stressed that the effect may only be short-term.
“This effect will tail off," he said.
"We saw it with previous increases in fees in the departments before,” he said.
“So there must be some implementation of more important measures in the departments...
"There may be implementation of the AI system, not only in the A&E departments, but also maybe at the primary-care level.”
Lee said a big burden would be lifted from the public healthcare system if patients were able to conduct some sort of tests themselves before deciding whether to seek medical attention at hospitals.
'Use AI chatbots in triage system to avoid mistakes'
2025-03-28 HKT 12:26
