Cotai’s new public hospital, the Islands Healthcare Complex, will open by the end of next year, but no nighttime emergency services will be provided to start with, Taipa and Coloane Community Service Consultative Council Deputy Convener Lam Ka Chun said yesterday.
The government-appointed council asked Health Bureau (SSM) officials to brief them about the Cotai hospital complex’s facilities and its future operation.
Lam reported that after the Cotai hospital complex opens, emergency services will only be available during the day due to a shortage of medical personnel. Lam said that the government is still to decide when nighttime emergency services will be made available.
Lam added that the hospital is expected to be transferred to the SSM this autumn, when it will start installing medical equipment and facilities.
The 1,100 bed hospital is due to be equipped with nuclear medicine equipment and a radiotherapy centre with the aim of meeting residents’ increasing healthcare needs.
It will be operated by Peking Union Medical College Hospital (aka Beijing Xiehe Hospital) on a non-commercial basis. The government has said that despite being operated by a third-party institution, the Cotai hospital complex will “by nature” still be a public hospital.
Lam said that 95 per cent of the services provided in the Cotai hospital complex will be public health services, where the charges will be the same as those in the Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, while the remaining five per cent will be private health services, where 30 to 50 beds will be available. However, according to Lam, no decision has been made as to what the hospital’s private health services will cover and how they will be priced.
Another deputy convenor of the council, Liu Fengming, said that with less than two years before the hospital’s opening, some council members voiced concerns over whether there will be sufficient medical professionals.
Liu also said that Peking Union Medical College Hospital will be directly responsible for recruiting and training health professionals for the Cotai hospital.
The Health Bureau officials quoted Peking Union Medical College Hospital representatives as saying that those intending to work in the Cotai hospital must study medical science for at least eight years to be considered for a job.
Liu also quoted the officials as saying that the Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre does not have nuclear medicine equipment or a radiotherapy centre, because of which, she said, patients will be transferred to the Cotai hospital complex in the future.
A Light Rail Transit (LRT) station – on the future Seac Pai Van LRT section – will be connected to the hospital by an enclosed corridor and there will be a four-storey car park with 400 spaces for cars and motorcycles/scooters.
Plans for a helipad have been shelved due to the official aviation height limit in the area,The Macau Post Daily reported.
