The average time for Macau’s stroke patients from admission to receiving treatment is 54 minutes, which is in line with the international standard of less than 60 minutes for stroke treatment, while the waiting time for emergency orthopaedic surgery has also decreased, from 14.2 days at the peak in the past to 5.6 days at present, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U said yesterday.
Ao Ieong made the remarks during an oral interpellation plenary session yesterday in the legislature’s hemicycle, adding that the government has continued to adopt a number of measures to optimise the emergency treatment and rehabilitation treatment of stroke and fracture patients.
Ao Ieong noted that there were 245 physiotherapists, 156 occupational therapists and 75 speech therapists in Macau last year, while the number of therapists in general has increased by about 75 percent from 274 in 2018.
Ao Ieong insisted that there are enough beds for rehabilitation services in local hospitals, pointing out that there are currently 20 unoccupied beds in the public Ka Ho Rehabilitation Hospital in Coloane. She underlined that the future rehabilitation hospital of the Islands Healthcare Complex will provide an estimated 300 beds once it has been completed.
Meanwhile, Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long told lawmakers that the rehabilitation hospital project of the Islands Healthcare Complex was expected to be ready for use in 2027. Dr Lo said that a bed management mechanism had already been set up to coordinate in-patient management and the use of bed resources.
Day hospitals
During yesterday’s plenary session, Ao Ieong said that the government would establish a new type of medical institution, tentatively known as “day hospital” the service level of which ranges between a hospital and a clinic. He said that the government was drafting a bill on the licensing of day hospitals.
Ao Ieong said the bill aimed to provide more high-quality healthcare services for the elderly, as local healthcare services for senior citizens still had certain limitations.
Ao Ieong pointed out that the number of elderly people on the waiting list for registered daycare services stands currently at 92. She stressed that senior citizens currently don’t need to wait for daycare centres in the islands district, whereas the number of people on the waiting list is relatively high in the peninsula’s northern district due to its dense population.
The so-called islands district comprises Taipa, Cotai and Coloane.
Therefore, an additional daycare centre will be set up in the northern district this year, which is expected to provide 45 service places for the elderly, with a view to minimising the waiting time as far as possible, according to Ao Ieong.
Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long addresses yesterday’s plenary session in the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) hemicycle. – Photo courtesy of TDM
