How does the world's most efficient healthcare system respond to the challenge? Hong Kong's health governance system, healthcare system reform and implications for mainland China / 中国卫生政策研究

Mainland China's healthcare system reform has achieved remarkable results. As the reform progresses ,more efforts could be made in policy-learning from other Chinese societies with more successful experiences. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has an internationally renowned healthcare system, ranked at the top in the world's most efficient health systems. This paper reviews Hong Kong's health governance system, the challenges it has faced, its reform initiatives in the recent years, and discusses their implications for the mainland China. Heath governance in Hong Kong has fully realized the separation of regulationswith operation, thus overcoming major institutional barriers. The Hospital Authority of Hong Kong has demonstrated very high efficiency and managerial professionalism. However, Hong Kong's healthcare system is also facing various daunting challenges, and the government has introduced a series of reform initiatives, including the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme, Public-Private Partnership, and Elderly Health Care Voucher. Many reform ideas and policy instruments can be of reference value for healthcare system reforms in the mainland.

Malaysian Senior Dental Officers' Perceptions Of The Employability Of Male Dental Nurses And Possible Policy Implications

Background: In Malaysia, training to enter dentalnursing profession is only open to women. Ironically,there are no such gender restrictions on training forany other health related professions in Malaysia.Aim: Therefore this study aims to assess theperceptions of Malaysian Senior Dental Officers(SDOs) towards the employability of male workers inthe dental nursing profession and to compare findingsfrom male and female SDOs. Methods: This crosssectional study was carried out on all SDOs inMinistry of Health, Malaysia, using a self-administeredquestionnaire. Descriptive statistics and a chi squaretest were used to address the study objectives. Results:Of the 112 participants, 78 SDOs returned thequestionnaire, yielding a response rate of 70%. Themajority of SDOs had positive perceptions of theemployment of male dental nurses. It was indicated thatgender is an important indicator for workforcedevelopment, and that the employment of both maleand female dental nurses would enhance productivity.Almost 70% of SDOs perceived that the productivityof oral health service would be enhanced by havingmale and female dental nurses but 84.6% disagreedthat male dental nurses would be more productive thanfemale. Two thirds of SDOs disagreed that male dentalnurses would increase satisfaction among malepatients. About 64% of male SDOs disagreed thatdental nursing profession is associated with femaletraits. There was no significant difference betweenperceptions by male and female SDOs for anystatements. Conclusion: The majority of MalaysianSDOs have positive perceptions towards theemployability of male dental nurses, and perceiveddental nursing as a suitable profession for bothgenders. Training for the dental nursing professionshould therefore be made available for men.