Thursday 10 January 2008

EPA note...

S.2 mid-year exam~unit 15,16,17 here Importance of public health- For Individuals, poor hygiene conditions can result in people falling sick easily and contributing to spread of disease. For poor medical services or not proper treatment→threatens their health. For Society, if people fall sick→labour productivity drop→spend on medical+→$on other development-. Also, infectious disease lower foreigners’ to visit/invest in place→harm economy. Health indicator- 1) Infant mortality rate→infant deaths under a year per 1000 live births→the health condition of new born and adequacy of medical services for babies→decrease last 2 decades. 2) Average life expectancy- the average number of years a person can expect to live→the general health condition, spread of epidemic and adequacy of medical services→ -last 2 decades 3) Control of infectious disease- Infectious disease is by virus or bacteria→pass from person to person→reported infectious disease decreased. Public health services in HK- 1) Food and environmental hygiene department: Monitor food hygiene- Conduct surveillance of imported and locally produced food, inspect food premises and food processing factories, Manage public markets, cooked food centers and hawking activities. Maintain environmental hygiene- public cleansing services and carry out anti-mosquito and anti-rodent campaigns to prevent pest-borne diseases. 2) Department of Health- Immunusation for public, the Port Health Office set up check point at immigration control points→to prevent and control spread of diseases, organise health education activities to raise public awareness. 3) Environmental Protection Department- Enforce environmental legislation and policies, monitor environmental quality, provide collection, transfer, treatment and disposal facilities for waste, prevent pollution and handle pollution complaints and incidents. Medical services in Hong Kong- Department of health- provide primary medical services→specialists clinics, mother and child health centres, student health centres and tuberculosis and chest clinics. Hospital Authority- Managing hospitals, emergency service, general out-patient clinic and hospitalisation. Community Nursing Services include rehabilitative nursing care and treatment for sick, elder and disabled. Private medical services- 1) Private hospital provide comparable services with public one but higher charge. 2) Private clinic are popular in NT, they provide 70% of primary medical services. 3) Chinese medical clinics mostly privately run. Voluntary organisation also provide them. Problems of public health-The spread of diseases- 1) Chronic diseases(慢性疾病) such as heart diseases cancer diabetes and cerebrovascular diseases are the common fatal diseases in Hong Kong. 2) Influenza and common cold are examples of infectious diseases, it clued food poisoning too. Factors affecting health- 1) Poor environmental hygiene→lack of civic awareness→speed up spread of diseases 2) Unhealthy living habits→smoking, excessive drinking and drug abuse. 3) Serious pollution→air pollution cause respiratory diseases and food poisoning after eating contaminated food. 4) High population mobility→high population mobility→speed up spread of diseases Problems of public health- 1) People’s bad habits which are harmful to public health is hard to change such as spitting, littering and let dogs foul on the street, poor building maintenance and hygiene conditions and dirty food premises and improper ways of handling food. 2) The penalties is too lenient→fail to stop people. Problems of health care- 1) Mistakes can lead to fatalities→public may lose confidence in medical profession. 2) Low credibility of complaint mechanism- complaint process is complicated and non-transparent. 3) Great demand for medical services→great financial burden on government. 4) Abuse of services→waste public resources and affect patients in need. 5) Poor coordination- lack of coordination and communication between the public and private medical institutions→hinders transfer of patients and discontinuity of care, duplication of services and uneven allocation of workload→waste resources. Solutions of public health and medical services Government- 1) Prosecute the law and raise the penalty, set hotline for reporting hygiene black spots and step up inspection at these spots and improve environmental hygiene such as strengthen enforcement actions against restaurants. 2) Introduce marking scheme for hygiene-related misdeeds in public housing estate. 3) Inspect food premises and enforce against operators violating the Food Business Regulation. 4) Make laws to require report for 20 infectious diseases, step up health check measures at border control points, set up mechanism on serious diseases with mainland, and communication with WHO and other country. 5) Improve surveillance and response system for infectious diseases in public hospitals. 6) Health education in school curriculum to raise students’ awareness, advertise through mass media and organise talks and conduct health education activities. Citizens 7) Be considerate, careful when buying, handling and storing food, do not patronize illegal cooked hawkers or dirty restaurants→ensure food hygiene and actively join activities to keep environment clean, report hygiene black spots. 8) Develop good living habits and stay away from bad habit such as drug abuse. Enhance level of health care- Government-Improve quality of medical services 1) Strengthen the training of medical care professionals, encourage them to study continuously. 2) Review the monitoring mechanisms. 3) Educate patients about their right and responsibilities. 4) Make laws and set up mechanisms to monitor the use of Chinese medicine. 5) Better allocation and use of resources- Reform fee structure of public medical services refer to ‘user-pay’ principle, study possibility of introducing health information system→improve coordination and cooperation between public and private medical institutions and study the possibility of compulsory enrollment in medical saving plans or insurance. Citizens- Never abuse services, offer comments and suggestions→complain to Medical Council of HK, the Hospital Authority or Department of Health. Understanding patients’ rights and responsibilities and donate blood and organs. (

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