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Ambiguous results on shifting demands from public to
private sectors
The older population’s tendency to consult either private or public doctors
has declined, but dual utilisation of both public and private sectors has
increased from 49% to 61% amongst voucher users.

Did you usually consult public doctors or private doctors or
both for general illness? (n=905)

100%
90%
80%
49%
70% 61%
60%
50%
40% 24%
30% 17%
20% 22%
10% 19%
0 5% 3%
Prior to their use of voucher After using voucher

Both public and private doctors
Public doctors only
Private doctors only
Seldom/never seen doctors

The average attendances at the HA GOPCs between those who used
vouchers for private sector medical consultation and those who have not
used vouchers were not significantly different, suggesting that there seems
to be no apparent relief of the pressure in the public sector as a result of the
EHCVS.

Average attendances at GOPC for those who used vouchers
for private Western medical consultation (voucher users) and
those who did not (non-voucher users), from 2009 to 2015
(N=551)

4.0
Average number of attendances at GOPC 3.0
3.5
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Non-voucher user
Voucher user

Sources: FHB, 2019; Yeoh et al., 2020

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