By: Nercya Kalino, Staff Writer
On July 6, SFU’s department of gerontology held a free public lecture presented by Dr. Daniel W. L. Lai, dean of the faculty of social sciences at Hong Kong Baptist University. Lai is also an adjunct professor in the department of gerontology at SFU.
The presentation discussed the experiences of older South Asian migrants in Hong Kong. Lai’s mixed method research investigated ethnic Chinese and South Asian populations. Mixed method research is the use of more than one research methodologies such as qualitative and quantitative research processes. The topic highlighted ethnic minority groups whose needs are commonly ignored. Lai noted this is caused by the lack of attention to the systemic inequalities in Hong Kong.
The cost of private healthcare and the long wait times for access to public healthcare leaves people with few options. “Not seeking treatment is not just related to cultural norms but is also related to the systemic issue of cost. Hong Kong has a public health system, public hospitals, government funded community health clinics but unfortunately the waiting list is long,” Lai stated.
He explained these limitations come from the wait for public healthcare and the cost of private healthcare, because older people are more likely to not have access to private family doctors. While the government has a health care coupon with limited appointments for private family clinics, those clinics will most likely not accept them to avoid the administrative burden that comes with getting them approved.
Lai shared the process of the qualitative research which drew on the motivations of migration, challenges, and strengths of the aging South Asian population. This highlighted the experiences of the South Asian families in Hong Kong. The study involved 46 South Asian people who were 55 years and older.
Lai explained the hindrances of the language barrier that is associated with accessibility of health care for immigrants. “Interpretation services in the health care system are very limited, most of the time people have to refer to finding family members and we all understand the difficulties of finding family members to do the translation [ . . . ] the time, privacy issues, those sort of things.”
Lai shared the findings of the research that looked at the older South Asian minority groups, looking at their experiences and behaviors as well as stories told from their day to day living. He used an interviewing process that was conducted with the help of partner organizations to gain access to these South Asain minority groups.
“Interestly enough, admittedly, I would say the majority of the medical staff work under high pressure because the people, the number of patients they deal with everyday, I think is almost triple or quadruple compared to the numbers of the rest of society,” Lai stated. He explained that due to the number of people seeking care, only a few minutes are spent with each patient, which is often not enough to understand the patient’s background.
Another theme Lai discussed was the barriers in the healthcare delivery system. He noted most of the participants did not explicitly indicate racial discrimination within the qualitative section of the research. They indicated the medical services are not adequate and mostly unavailable due to the waitlist. They also suggested providing access to interpreters would be helpful.
“When we are talking about social support, [there] are structural issues they are facing in terms of expanding their social network,” said Lai.
