Medical care for children at five private hospitals in Hong Kong have had increases of up to 30 percent since the end of 2014.
Paediatrics rooms at Precious Blood Hospital, Union Hospital, the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, Hong Kong Adventist Hospital and Hong Kong Baptist Hospital now cost between 4.2 percent to 30.2 percent more than the end of last year, the Hong Kong Economic Times reported.
The highest increase was found at Precious Blood Hospital, where a private room costs HK$1,380 per day—up 30.2 percent from the end of 2014. Hospital consultation fees have also gone up at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital by 6.7 percent.
Paediatrician John Chow Chun-kwan told the paper that 90 percent of hospitalised children have medical insurance. He said that if standard rooms were full, some parents do not mind paying for double-occupancy rooms or even a single room.
However, he added that parents who do not have medical insurance would mostly opt to go to public hospitals instead.
Elaine Chan Sau-ho, deputy chairwoman of the Healthcare Reform Task Force under the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers, said insurances for children generally cost more than those for adults, even when it comes to the same illness.
She said that the cost of insurance for children have increased as a whole as parents have become more concerned about paediatric healthcare, meaning the demand for them has increased.
