Opinion | Why Hong Kong must make mental health an immediate economic priority
The budget rightly focuses on tech and finance for the city’s economic growth but human capital resilience is just as vital
With any long-term growth strategy, however, human capital resilience is as critical as technological investment. As society embraces AI, we need to ensure its development and adoption in our business activities do not come at the expense of Hong Kong’s mental wellness – a major systemic vulnerability.
Hong Kong’s service capacity, however, presents challenges. Last year, new non-urgent outpatient psychiatric patients had to wait a median 30-76 weeks for treatment, according to Hospital Authority data, with some waiting 101 weeks – compounding illness severity, the strain on families and downstream costs.
Hong Kong needs to urgently address its mental health concerns – and there are strong economic reasons for doing so. The World Health Organization found that every US$1 invested in scaled-up treatment for depression and anxiety yields roughly US$4 in improved health and productivity.
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