PolyU CPCE Health Conference 2022
10 Jan 2022
PolyU CPCE Health Conference 2022
Over 420 academics and experts offer insights into
“Long-term Care: Financing and Service Delivery in Asia-Pacific”
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)-affiliated College of Professional and Continuing Education (CPCE) held the CPCE Health Conference 2022 entitled “Long-term Care: Financing and Service Delivery in Asia-Pacific” in hybrid mode on 10 January 2022. Over 420 academics and experts from around the world participated the Health Conference to share their views and expertise in critical issues related to an ever-increasing demand for long-term care caused by population ageing worldwide.
The Conference, held for the seventh consecutive year, was organised by the Centre for Ageing and Healthcare Management Research (CAHMR) of the School of Professional Education and Executive Development of PolyU (PolyU SPEED) in collaboration with the Hong Kong College of Community Health Practitioners, Hong Kong College of Health Service Executives, and Hong Kong College of Nursing and Health Care Management.
Prof. Peter P. Yuen, Dean of CPCE and Conference Chair, said in his welcome address that long-term care spending is growing in an alarming rate all over the world and it is a highly labour intensive sector consisting of different types of medical and other personnel. “In Hong Kong, we also face serious problems in long-term care. Waiting time for a government subvented bed is in excess of 14 months and thousands of elderly patients die every year while waiting for a subsidised nursing home. The institutionalised rate of our elderly is also highly undesirable. We are about double that of Japan and three times that of Singapore,” said Prof. Yuen.
Prof. Yuen added that 65% of all the applicants for subsidised long-term care service in Hong Kong actually could be attended to by community-based care rather than institutionalised care. Besides, how is Hong Kong going to finance its long-term care is also a pressing issue as taxation is still the largest financing source but the taxpaying population is falling because of the ageing population.
This year’s Health Conference was attended by experts including doctors and nurses from Hong Kong, mainland China, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. Distinguished speakers included Dr The Honourable Lam Ching-choi, SBS, JP, Chairman of the Elderly Commission, Hong Kong; Dr Zhang Hui, Associate Professor, Sun Yat-sen University, mainland China; Dr Sabrina Luk, Assistant Professor, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Prof. Toshihiko Hasegawa, President, Future Health Research Institute, Japan; Mr Sunil Mehra, Founder Director, NICHIKO, Japan; Dr Phua Kai-hong, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, National University of Singapore; and Prof. Peter Yuen, Dean of CPCE.