The Macau government announced yesterday that local residents can start using their health e-vouchers at eligible clinics in Guangdong Province next month when the 2026 round of its annual medical subsidy programme commences.
The amount of the health vouchers will remain unchanged at 700 patacas.
The new measure announced yesterday comes after the use of Macau-issued health vouchers was extended to Hengqin in 2024.
Secretary for Administration and Justice Wong Sio Chak and Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long made the announcement during a press conference at Government Headquarters yesterday. Wong is also the spokesman for the government’s top advisory Executive Council.
Wong said that the council, which is headed by Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai, has completed its discussion of the administrative regulation (by-law) on the new 2026 round of the government’s annual medical subsidy programme, which will start on June 1.
The amount of the annual health vouchers for each recipient was 500 patacas when the programme was launched in 2009. The amount was raised to 600 patacas in 2013, before it was increased to the current 700 patacas last year.
Since its launch, the scheme has only benefitted permanent local residents.
Sticking to the same modus operandi as in the past several years, the 2026 round of health e-vouchers will be valid for two years, because of which beneficiaries can use their health e-vouchers until May 31, 2028.
The local government expects to spend 520 million patacas on the new 2026 round of health e-vouchers, Wong said.
The government said last year that the 2025 round was budgeted at 519 million patacas.
The medical subsidy programme’s 2024 round extended the use of health vouchers to the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
Wong said yesterday that after the use of health vouchers was extended to eligible clinics in Hengqin in 2024, the use of the new 2026 round of health e-vouchers will be extended to eligible clinics as well as outpatient departments of other medical institutions in the whole of Guangdong Province.
The 106-square-kilometre Hengqin island in Zhuhai City is officially known as Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, following its inauguration in September 2021. The adjacent island is three times the size of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR).
The neighbouring city of Zhuhai is one of the 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong Province, which covers 179,800 km2 with a population of 127 million.
In Macau, Wong pointed out, the health e-vouchers are only valid for consultations and treatments offered by health professionals in the private sector not subsidised by the local government.
From next month, Wong said, health professionals from Macau eligible to provide health services in the Chinese mainland who have joined Macau’s medical subsidy programme can receive the Macau government-issued health e-vouchers when they are providing consultations and treatments in eligible clinics or outpatient departments of other medical institutions in Guangdong Province.
Only clinics, as well as outpatient departments of other medical institutions, in Guangdong established by Macau residents who hold, individually or jointly, shares in the capital are covered by the Macau government’s medical subsidy programme, Wong said.
In Macau, beneficiaries can use their health e-vouchers either with their physical ID card or their e-ID card displayed on the Macau government’s Macao One Account e-government app.
In Guangdong, however, beneficiaries can only use their health e-vouchers with their e-ID card displayed on the Macao One Account app, Wong said.
The 2025 round of health e-vouchers, which started on June 1, 2025 and are valid until May 31, 2027, can now also be used in Guangdong.
As previously, the health e-vouchers are fully or partly transferable to the beneficiaries’ spouse, parents or children provided that they are permanent residents.
Also addressing yesterday’s press conference, Dr Lo said that there are currently 21 clinics and outpatient departments of other medical institutions in Guangdong established by Macau residents who hold, individually or jointly, shares in the capital, 15 of which are located in Hengqin, comprising seven clinics and eight outpatient departments of other medical institutions.
A woman walks past a clinic on Travessa de S. Domingos yesterday, an alley running between Largo do Senado, the city’s main square, and Largo da Sé, where the city’s Catholic Cathedral is located. – Photo: Tony Wong
