HONG KONG: An official channel is soon to be established between the public health authorities in Taiwan and Hong Kong, as part of a joint effort to combat epidemics and exploit the potential for so-called medical tourism.

The message emerged from the 5th Taiwan-Hong Kong Forum at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center yesterday.

The subject of the forum was medical care. Attending were officials including Yeh Ching-chuan, outgoing head of Taiwan's Department of Health (DOH) and Anthony Wu, chairman of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority.

Yeh, who officially leaves his DOH post today to stand for office in the year-end Taoyuan County Commissioner election, said that his resignation will not affect the new communications channel.

Taiwan and Hong Kong public health officials and medical researchers communicate regularly on a personal basis. The intent of the official channel is to enable to the two sides to exchange information regularly, through "systematized cooperation, not personnel cooperation", he said.

The link is especially important at a time when A (H1N1) influenza is spreading rapidly, Yeh said.

"Diseases have no boundaries. Everybody is going to benefit from closer cooperation," Yeh said.

Taiwan and Hong Kong have imported flu cases from each other, an unsurprising result, given the passenger volume between the two places.

There's no plan for Hong Kong to buy swine flu vaccine from Taiwan, which has its own vaccine manufacturers. DOH plans to buy 10 million doses of the vaccine from Adimmune Corp which is owned in part by the Taiwan government. The supply is limited, however, by a shortage of eggs used to make vaccines, Yeh said.

Adimmune yesterday disclosed that it has purchased more than 100,000 hens, which can lay some 40,000 eggs daily. This will help raise the vaccine production by 20 to 30 percent.

The cooperation between the two sides is not limited to the control of epidemics, Yeh added.

Another example is food safety, since both Hong Kong and Taiwan import a great deal of their food supplies.

Taiwan and Hong Kong remain rivals at some levels. Both are trying to develop medical tourism, for example. One of Taiwan's target markets in its push is Hong Kong.

A medical procedure in Hong Kong costs one to three times more than in Taiwan, Yeh said.

Wu admitted that Hong Kong could not compete on price level with Taiwan or Thailand. "It's better for Hong Kong to focus on high-end niches such as neuroscience," he said.

China Daily

(HK Edition 08/06/2009 page2)