Hong Kong’s public hospitals recorded a year-on-year decline of up to a 15 per cent in the number of patients seeking emergency treatment during the first three days of the Lunar New Year holiday, following fee adjustments introduced at the start of the year.

The decline was revealed on Friday by Dr Axel Siu Yuet-chung, chairman of the Hospital Authority’s coordinating committee.

He noted that accident and emergency departments (A&E) in public hospitals often become overcrowded during long holidays, as most private clinics close.

Checks by the South China Morning Post at 11am on Friday found that non-urgent patients at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan faced waiting times of up to nine hours to see a doctor.

Across most public hospitals, waiting times for semi-urgent and non-urgent patients averaged around four hours, while urgent cases were typically seen within half an hour.

Siu said the number of patients visiting A&E departments during the first three days of the holiday had dropped by about 11 to 15 per cent compared with the same period last year.