Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Hospital plans to begin round-the-clock inpatient services in December 2026, mainly for seriously ill patients with complex or uncertain conditions, including those with limited mobility. The hospital said it would set admission criteria for the service.
Potential patients include those who need close monitoring within the hospital system, constant supervision or further assessment because their condition has not yet been determined. Some may require examinations and treatment involving multiple body systems and both Chinese and Western medicine, rather than a single form of treatment.
The hospital is also studying cooperation with community Chinese medicine outpatient clinics or practices, with the aim of allowing patients to receive outpatient care in their communities.
The hospital began operating on 11 December 2025 and had been in service for about nine months as of 6 September 2026. It said public response had been strong and demand had exceeded expectations, adding that subsidised outpatient quotas had been increased four times in more than nine months. A report said the hospital was serving an average of about 17,000 people a month.
The hospital forecasts that it will provide 140,000 attendances in its first year and 260,000 in the following year. The source material does not specify the calendar years covered by those estimates.
To support the expansion, the hospital is recruiting Chinese medicine practitioners, nurses and staff involved in Chinese medicine. It said recruitment was progressing well and that it had hired graduates trained in mainland China. The planned inpatient service will also require pharmacy support and staff responsible for monitoring the quality of herbal medicines.
The hospital has not provided the service’s exact opening date, bed capacity, charges or detailed admission criteria. Details of any community clinic partners and referral arrangements also remain unclear. The planned launch is currently set for December 2026.