Patient safety remains the paramount consideration of Hong Kong's public and private healthcare systems, enshrined outside the public sector in the Private Healthcare Facilities Ordinance. Regulations already cover private hospitals and day care centres. Now the city's 5,000 clinics, including beauty parlours providing clients with injections, are to come under a licensing regime. It is not before time.

The new system, mainly targeting clinics that are part of chains, reflects a change in the way they operate that elevates patient safety considerations.

Health authorities say some clinics are run by people who are not healthcare professionals and lack basic medical knowledge, while the doctors they hire have no control over management. "We hope to regulate this kind of clinic to enhance patient safety," said Dr Darwin Mak Wai-lai, head of the Department of Health's Office for Regulation of Private Healthcare Facilities.

The licensing reform has been partly prompted by harmful medical incidents arising from inadequate regulation of beauty clinics that offer medical treatment. They were attributed to lack of training of practitioners or unsafe conditions. Initially, the death of a 46-year-old woman in 2012 after high-risk experimental cell therapy injections at a beauty centre sparked calls for tighter rules.

Mak said that about 1,500 clinics would need to apply for a full licence. A doctor or dentist would have to be wholly responsible for day-to-day operations and ensure compliance with a code of practice, including infection control and safety incident reports. The remaining 3,500 clinics are eligible for exemption from licensing because they are operated exclusively by registered doctors or dentists, subject to the code of practice and regulated by statutory bodies, which also handle complaints. In future, beauty parlours providing injections must have a doctor in charge of the operation.

The new regulatory regime may seem complex and bureaucratic, given that Hong Kong has an accessible and well-respected health system. But the priority must be to maintain public confidence in the private health sector if it is to shoulder some of the burden on the public sector.

Editorial | Hong Kong's licensing regime for clinics is just what the doctor ordered