Already, there are signs of an overburdened system.
Reports of medical blunders and malpractice are all too frequent. Patients have been misdiagnosed or given the wrong medication or incorrect blood type during transfusions.
Last year, the Hospital Authority received 2,400 complaints from patients.
Hong Kong's 44 public hospitals have also been criticised for overcrowding, rushed consultations and long waiting times.
Patients often have to wait years for non-urgent surgery. Cataract surgery, for example, has a waiting time of between one and three years.
In a consultation report presented in March, the health secretary warned that, without financing reforms, waiting lists would become longer and private hospital care more expensive as the burden on the public sector increases.
CARYN YEO
MONEY CONCERNS
'If I put money aside for medical savings, what if I die before I even get to use the money?'
TAXI DRIVER LAU KWOK WAI, 52, who is against the government medical savings scheme
CRUCIAL REFORM
'If a decision cannot be made...we would have to raise tax rates substantially or cut funding for other public services such as education and social welfare.'
HEALTH SECRETARY YORK CHOW, saying that reform is crucial for Hong Kong to keep up its standards of medical care
LESS THAN THE WEST
'Hong Kong is spending only 2.9 per cent of its GDP on health care. Compare that with developed countries like Japan at 6.6 per cent and Australia at 6.4 per cent.'
INDEPENDENT LEGISLATOR KWOK KA KI, who says the government is exaggerating the problem