The Health Bureau on Friday announced the launch of patient pairing arrangements under the Community Pharmacy Programme and the annual adjustment of consultation co-payment fees under the Primary Healthcare Co-care Network. The bureau said the first phase of the Community Pharmacy Programme, to be trialed in four districts by the end of October, will allow patients to obtain drugs from designated community pharmacies, with pharmacists providing medication counselling and health advice. The programme is being piloted in Eastern, Yau Tsim Mong, Sha Tin and Yuen Long districts, with five community pharmacies selected in each district. The bureau said it aims to extend the programme to all 18 districts by the fourth quarter of next year. Under the programme, participating patients can be paired with a preferred pharmacy for drug dispensing or refill services, a practice that the bureau said would help prevent the accumulation of excess drugs at home and reduce the risk of improper storage or misuse. Meanwhile, the bureau announced that the annual adjustment of consultation co-payment fees under the Co-care Network will take effect from November 1. Under the co-payment model, the government provides a partial subsidy while participants pay a set fee. The bureau said among 1,239 participating service points, 82.5 percent will keep their existing co-payment fees unchanged. Twenty-eight service points will reduce fees, while 189 will increase them – with nearly 90 percent of those raising fees by HK$50 or below, with the overall rate of increase of 3.7 percent in the coming year, it said. Following the increase, more than 60 percent of service points will charge consultation co-payments at or below the government-recommended level of HK$150, with the median remaining at HK$150. As of October 7, more than 300,000 citizens have enrolled in the Co-care Network, with around 70,000 diagnosed with cardiovascular disease risk factors or chronic hepatitis B and having entered the treatment phase. Edited by Aaron Tam