Dr Pang Fei-chau is the current Commissioner for Primary Healthcare, Health Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. He is the President of the Hong Kong College of Community Medicine. He has the fellowship of the Hong Kong College of Physicians, Hong Kong College of Community Medicine and the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators. Prior to this position, Dr Pang was the Clinical Associate Professor of the School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong and Honorary Consultant of Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital. Dr Pang is an experienced health service executive and has been the Head of Human Resources of the Hospital Authority to provide strategic advice and leadership to the HR function of over 40 public hospitals. He has extensive management experiences in healthcare sector like being the Hospital Chief Executive of the Grantham Hospital and Tung Wah Hospital, Chief Manager under Cluster Services Division and Quality and Safety Division at Head Office of the Hospital Authority. He was appointed as the member of the Elderly Commission of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region between 2015‐2019. He was an elected Council Member of the University of Hong Kong in 2021/22.
The Health Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region published the Primary Healthcare Blueprint in December 2022, which sets five focus areas for primary healthcare development namely development of community-based healthcare system, strengthening governance of primary healthcare services, consolidating resources related to service deliveries, reinforcing manpower training and planning, and improving connectivity through e-Health platform. Hong Kong is a densely populated city with substantial private service providers on primary healthcare services, which contributes to more than 60% of total primary care medical attendances. However, most chronic disease patients find it difficult to have long term follow up in private sector due to uncertainties in affordability, whereas private service providers may not be able to deliver continuity of care due to doctor shopping health seeking behaviour. With highly subsidised hospital services, the healthcare system faces tremendous challenges to cope with the rapid ageing community. For primary healthcare development, the key implementation issues are how to connect service providers between public and private sectors, and drive high quality care in chronic disease management under strategic purchasing approach. Technology advancement in connectivity will be a key platform to realise district-based services in Hong Kong.
