One of the health-care reforms proposed by the Health and Medical Development Advisory Committee is to train more family doctors.
The concept of family medicine is not new. As shown in old Hollywood movies, the family doctor would be there in the home during all important occasions, including the birth of a child, the death of a family member and even at Christmas.
However, a doctor as a family friend is alien to Hong Kong culture. When I was a medical student, it was not uncommon to witness hot-shot doctors stridently scolding patients for not following instructions, and letting patients kneel before them begging to be saved. Those were signs of the times, and it is heart-warming to know that doctors nowadays are more down to earth.
According to newspapers, one young doctor plays tennis with his diabetic patients to encourage exercise, and another says that all her patients are her friends. But these examples are few and far between. In general, patient-doctor relationships in Hong Kong are far from genial.
It is laudable for the advisory committee to envision 'every family or citizen of Hong Kong under the continuous care of a named doctor of his/her choice' in future. One of the weaknesses of health-care delivery in the city is the lack of a personal touch. For example, in government clinics, patients are assigned haphazardly to whichever doctors are on duty. In private practice, patients are inclined to clinic-hop whenever a quick cure is not in sight.
But training more doctors in family medicine may not be enough to change things. Promoting an ideal such as rapport between patient and doctor is like promoting love - commendable but not enforceable. First and foremost, doctors need to gain patients' trust.
In general, patients have more trust in government doctors - despite the curt and snappish bedside manners - because patients know they are not working just for the money. But they have less trust in private doctors: it is hard to trust someone whose every word and action comes with a price tag.