Gastroscopy cost in Hong Kong 2026: public fees vs private bills, with real hospital statistics
胃鏡檢查 2026 香港收費全比較
What a gastroscopy actually is
A gastroscopy (also called OGD — oesophago-gastro-duodenoscopy) passes a thin flexible camera through the mouth to look at the oesophagus, stomach and the first part of the small bowel — checking for ulcers, reflux damage, H. pylori or bleeding, and taking biopsies if needed. It is a short day procedure, usually under sedation: of the thirteen private hospitals publishing 2025 statistics, every one reports a day-case row, and inpatient stays where they occur average around one day.
It is frequently booked together with a colonoscopy in one sedation session; if you are pricing both, compare each procedure's page and ask whether your hospital offers a combined package. Whether you need a gastroscopy is a clinical decision — this page is about what it costs.
Hospital Authority pricing
On the public side a gastroscopy uses the flat Eligible-Person fees: HK$250 per specialist clinic attendance plus HK$250 for the day procedure, with any drugs at HK$20 per item per four weeks, all bounded by the HK$10,000 annual cap (must be applied for via HA Go — not automatic). There is no separate screening subsidy for gastroscopy. The real cost of the public route is the specialist wait, not the bill.
Private medical facilities
These are each hospital's own published Historical Bill Sizes statistics (government price-transparency pilot): the 50th and 90th percentile of real 2025 bills, including doctor's fees. Sedation type (IV sedation vs anaesthetist-monitored MAC), biopsies and day-case vs ward admission drive the spread — a percentile is what patients actually paid, not a quote.
Totals include doctor's fees (surgeon + anaesthetist where the hospital reports them together; Union reports the anaesthetist separately). Percentiles are computed per column — splits may not sum to totals.
Set prices from the hospital's own page; the badge states whether doctor fees are included.
Clinic entries are quoted package prices (not ORPHF percentiles) — what each includes varies, so read each source. Prices are dated and re-checked periodically.
How insurance treats this procedure
A gastroscopy ordered to investigate symptoms — reflux, pain, anaemia, difficulty swallowing — is usually a covered diagnostic day-case procedure. Under VHIS, day-case endoscopy is within scope: Standard Plans reimburse against the government benefit schedule, and Flexi Plans raise the limits by tier. A scope done purely as a wellness check on someone without symptoms may be treated as a health check and excluded.
As with colonoscopy, the indication on your referral — diagnostic vs screening — is what an insurer reads. Confirm cover before booking and discuss the clinical reason with your doctor.
Weighing public against private
- Your case is non-urgent and you can work around the public specialist queue.
- You want the HK$10,000 annual cap to bound the scope and any follow-up — it must be applied for via HA Go, not automatic.
- You are already under a public specialist who has referred you.
- You do not need to choose your endoscopist or your date.
- You want a named gastroenterologist and a date of your choosing, done as a same-day procedure.
- You hold VHIS or other cover that reimburses diagnostic day-case endoscopy.
- You prefer a fixed-price package — published packages here start at HK$10,550 and run to HK$19,900 depending on sedation type.
- You want to compare published bills: 50th-percentile day-case totals ran from about HK$13,925 to HK$42,278 across hospitals in 2025.
These are cost-and-logistics factors only, not medical advice — what fits your eyes, body and history is a conversation with your doctor.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a private gastroscopy actually cost?+
In the published 2025 statistics, 50th-percentile totals span HK$8,075 (a near-day inpatient row at Precious Blood) to HK$72,307 (inpatient, Matilda), with the 90th percentile reaching HK$73,609. Day-case 50th-percentile totals mostly sit between about HK$13,925 and HK$42,278; sedation type and biopsies move the bill.
IV sedation or MAC — why two package prices?+
Some hospitals offer IV sedation (given by the endoscopy team) or monitored anaesthesia care (MAC, with a separate anaesthetist). MAC packages here run higher — one hospital lists IV sedation from HK$10,550 and MAC from HK$12,750.
Can I do a gastroscopy and colonoscopy in one go?+
They are commonly combined in a single sedation session. Pricing is per procedure in the published statistics, so a combined sitting is not simply one plus the other — ask your hospital whether it offers a combined package and what it includes.
Is there a public subsidy like the bowel-cancer screening one?+
No. Unlike colonoscopy, there is no separate government screening subsidy for gastroscopy. The public route is the ordinary specialist-clinic pathway under the Eligible-Person fees and the HK$10,000 annual cap (must be applied for via HA Go — not automatic).
Are the fixed-price packages all-inclusive?+
The two publishers on this page (Gleneagles and CUHK Medical Centre) both include the doctor's fee and state complications cover — that is what the badge on each row shows. Many packages elsewhere do not; confirm the inclusion list in writing.
Will my insurance pay for it?+
Usually yes when it is diagnostic — ordered for symptoms — and often no when it is a pure wellness scan of someone without symptoms. The reason on your referral drives the claim; confirm with your insurer before booking.
以下內容僅為醫學術語的簡單解釋，並非醫療建議、診斷或治療建議。請務必向合資格醫生諮詢您的健康狀況。
This is a plain-language explanation of medical terms only. It is not medical advice, a diagnosis, or a treatment recommendation. Always consult a qualified doctor about your health.