Requesting your medical records, reports and images in Hong Kong: how to apply through the Hospital Authority, private hospitals and eHealth, and the fees

What routes are there to get your records, reports and images?

Three routes should be kept apart: first, make a data access request under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486) for a copy of your own medical records; second, separately apply for a medical report written by a doctor; third, view records already deposited through eHealth. The Hospital Authority's schedule of administrative charges lists the first two separately: one is the photocopy of personal data for a data access request, the other is certificates and medical reports (Hospital Authority public hospital administrative charges, from 1 January 2026).

Under section 19 of the Ordinance, the data user's duty is limited to giving you a copy of your personal data, not a copy of the document that contains the data, and it may redact other content in the document that is not your personal data (Privacy Commissioner's Office, June 2016).

If I have eHealth, do I still need to get the reports and images myself?

What eHealth shares is only the data within a pre-set shareable scope; data outside that scope (for example some detailed consultation notes from outpatient visits) is not shared, and not all of the records an institution keeps are deposited in eHealth (eHealth website, October 2026).

What eHealth holds are the records deposited by registered institutions. Apart from the Department of Health, the Hospital Authority, the Primary Healthcare Commission and healthcare institutions managed by the Government or the Hospital Authority, a participating healthcare provider needs your sharing consent before it can deposit and access your electronic health record in eHealth; as at the end of May 2024, of the nearly 6 million registered users who had given participation consent, nearly seven in ten had not yet given sharing consent to any private healthcare provider, and over 99% of the electronic health records shared in eHealth came from public healthcare providers (Health Bureau, June 2024).

The Health Bureau advises that, when choosing a private healthcare institution for a radiology examination, members of the public can first ask whether that institution can deposit the examination record into their personal eHealth account (Health Bureau, April 2025).

For radiology images, the Hospital Authority began sharing radiology images in eHealth in the first half of 2021, some private healthcare institutions (private hospitals or radiology centres) also began sharing by the end of 2021, and the Department of Health started sharing in phases from mid-2024; an institution must develop an interface and complete testing with eHealth before it can share radiology images (eHealth website, October 2026).

What you can see yourself is also widening: radiology reports can generally be viewed under the 'Records of Investigation' feature of the mobile app 14 days after they are issued (Health Bureau, April 2025), and from March 2026 the mobile app added an 'e+Imaging' feature that lets members of the public view medical images on their phones (Health Bureau, May 2026).

But 'being able to see it' and 'getting a copy to hand to a new doctor' are two different things: to obtain a copy of your own personal data held in eHealth, you still have to make a data access request to the Electronic Health Record Registration and Enquiry Centre under the Ordinance, for a processing fee of HK$109, with the report generally provided within 40 days (eHealth website; data access request fee last updated 17 October 2024).

Compiled by this site: examinations done outside Hong Kong do not appear in eHealth automatically; the 'Personal Folder' feature of the eHealth mobile app lets you deposit medical records obtained outside Hong Kong yourself, and from 27 January 2026 three designated cross-boundary medical institutions can, with your authorisation, deposit radiology examination reports and images directly (Health Bureau, January 2026).

How to register for eHealth and give sharing consent is covered in eHealth registration.

For when a report is usually ready, and what to do when the report is out but the follow-up is far off, see when will my test report be ready.

How do I apply at the Hospital Authority, and how much does it cost?

Applying for medical records (including photocopied records, commonly called 'bed-head cards') must be done in person or by post at the hospital's medical records office (Hospital Authority, July 2026).

HA Go now offers the 'Apply Medical Report' feature. Applicants must be the patient themselves, aged 18 or above, hold a Hong Kong identity card and be a full HA Go member (Hospital Authority HA Go feature page and FAQs, checked 14 October 2026).

How do I apply at private hospitals and day procedure centres?

A private hospital must set out policies and procedures in writing to protect a patient's right to access their own medical records, and the right to obtain a medical report or a copy of the medical records from the hospital and the attending doctor after paying the relevant processing fee (Department of Health, Code of Practice for Private Hospitals, section 12.2.2, July 2026). A day procedure centre must likewise protect a patient's right to access their own medical records (Department of Health, Code of Practice for Day Procedure Centres, section 1.3.1.6, July 2026).

Each hospital's fee schedule must cover the charges for applying for a medical report and copies of medical records, listed together with items such as rooms, operating theatres, and general and specialist outpatient consultations (Department of Health, Code of Practice for Private Hospitals, section 33.1.3, July 2026).

Examples of the procedures: Precious Blood Hospital (Caritas) requires you to download and complete an application form and submit it by post, email, fax or in person, together with a certified copy of an identity document and the original shown in person; an application made on a patient's behalf must include an authorisation signed by the patient. It is generally ready within 28 days of completing the whole application process, must be collected within 3 months of notification, and the medical records are issued in English (Precious Blood Hospital (Caritas), October 2026). CUHK Medical Centre requires an application for copies of medical records to be made to the hospital in writing (CUHK Medical Centre, October 2026). At Hong Kong Baptist Hospital the medical report is limited to resident doctors, and a report by a non-resident doctor requires you to contact that doctor yourself (Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, last updated 1 July 2026).

Report or image? Disc or memory stick?

Patient records include laboratory, radiological diagnostic and diagnostic service reports, as well as film or clinical photographs (Department of Health, Code of Practice for Private Hospitals, section 3.1.3, July 2026). Compiled by this site: a report and the original images are two separate things, and you should state them separately when you apply; each institution's delivery method and fees are in the table below.

Can I ask a family member to get them for me?

Besides making the request in person, you can authorise another person in writing to make the data access request on your behalf, and the data user may require the authorised person to provide the subject's proof of identity and a letter of authorisation; for a minor under 18, a person with parental responsibility for them can make the request on their behalf, and the data user may require proof of the subject's identity and of the relationship, such as a birth certificate (Privacy Commissioner's Office, June 2016).

For privacy reasons, a carer registered on HA Go cannot apply for a medical report on behalf of a parent or child (Hospital Authority, July 2026); Precious Blood Hospital (Caritas) requires an application made on a patient's behalf to include an authorisation signed by the patient and the agent's proof of identity (Precious Blood Hospital (Caritas), October 2026).

Arrangements for a family member to accompany a visit and collect reports on your behalf are covered in what to prepare for a first doctor's visit.

What should I watch out for when filling in the data access request form?

The Privacy Commissioner has issued a data access request form (Form OPS003), and the completed form should be sent directly to the relevant data user; if you do not use this form, the data user may refuse your data access request (Privacy Commissioner's Office, June 2016).

Asking for 'all personal data' is too general a description; it is better to clearly specify the data you want to access, such as a medical report, and to note the date the data was collected; if the data user is not given the information it reasonably requires to locate the data, it may refuse to comply (Privacy Commissioner's Office, June 2016).

On the form you can specify that the copy be provided in Chinese, English or the language in which the data was held, and you can specify the form (for example a computer disk); if providing it in the specified form is not practicable, the data user may provide it in another form (Privacy Commissioner's Office, June 2016).

How to hand the records to another doctor once you have them is covered in how to prepare for a second opinion and transferring between public and private; for which old reports and images to bring to a new doctor, see bringing previous tests to a new doctor.

Frequently asked questions