By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-06 13:41:28 | Updated at 2025-03-06 17:34:24
3 hours ago
Hong Kong’s private hospitals lack transparency in their pricing information and charging mechanisms, the consumer watchdog has said, revealing that a knee surgery patient in one case was hit with a bill HK$90,000 higher than the estimate.
The Consumer Council said on Thursday that it had received 191 complaints concerning private healthcare services between 2021 and 2024, with 87 involving pricing disputes.
In one case, a complainant was initially told knee surgery would cost about HK$120,000. However, just before the procedure, the hospital revised the price to between HK$170,000 and HK$210,000, blaming errors in its estimate.
The patient was forced to accept the new price because of time constraints and later filed a complaint with the hospital. In response, the hospital offered a refund of only HK$9,000.
Another patient complained that a doctor at a private hospital provided an estimate of around HK$160,000 to HK$170,000 for an undisclosed procedure but the final bill came to HK$230,000. The patient was told the charge was determined by the hospital’s medical group and received no refund.
The watchdog noted that half of consumers relied on official websites for information when comparing prices. However, not all day procedure centres disclosed prices online, and even when they did, the information was often not comprehensive.
