Unnecessary and excessive medical check-up can do more harm than good to your health, both physically and mentally.
This concern was borne out in a Consumer Council survey of 55 health check packages offered at promotional prices between April and May this year.
These packages were marketed by 22 institutions encompassing 8 private hospitals (ranging from $350 to $4,950), 9 private medical centres (from $280 to $3,750) and 5 private medical laboratories (from $398 to $1,380).
Some packages do not include doctors' clinical health assessments and report interpretation with medical advice or comments. Extra fees may be charged for such service.
Consumers are strongly advised not to rush into joining a health check package without first consulting their medical doctors.
According to the Department of Health (DH), the main purpose of health check is for the detection of disease at an earlier stage, so as to better control the disease and hence to decrease risk of complications and, in some cases, mortality.
However, the DH notes that not all, but only a few, chronic illnesses can be detected by a health check. There is not a single health check programme that suits all.
A comprehensive health check should include medical history taking, health risk assessment, physical examination and appropriate investigations.
While some investigations included in health check packages are considered "basic", some are expensive and, worse, potentially risky. Thus they are only suitable for those at higher risk of developing a particular disease.
For screening of seven major cancers (lung, colorectal, breast, liver, nasopharyngeal, cervical, prostate cancer), according to the DH, only cervical screening currently has enough evidence to be recommended as organized screening programme in Hong Kong.
The DH warns that unnecessary investigation will not only waste money and time, it may actually lead to unnecessary anxiety.
Further, unwarranted invasive investigations may even be harmful.
As investigation results can be "false-negative" or "false-positive", the results should be carefully evaluated and interpreted by doctors.
If consumers are in doubt of the service quality of a medical laboratory, the Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS) has recommended that they should look for medical laboratories accredited by HKAS under the Hong Kong Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (HOKLAS), or their mutual recognition arrangement partners.
The scope of accreditation of a laboratory includes only those tests which the laboratory has been confirmed to be competent in performing through a rigorous onsite assessment.
So consumers should not only look at the price but also the quality of service when considering health check-up service.
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