<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>EX-99.77
<SEQUENCE>2
<FILENAME>e400948_ex99-1.txt
<DESCRIPTION>REPORT OF INDEPENDENT PUBLIC ACCOUTING
<TEXT>

            REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Trustees and Shareholders of H&Q Healthcare Investors:

In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of H&Q
Healthcare Investors (the "Fund") for the year ended September 30, 2004 (on
which we have issued our report dated November 22, 2004), we considered its
internal control, including control activities for safeguarding securities, in
order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our
opinion on the financial statements and to comply with the requirements of Form
N-SAR, and not to provide assurance on the Fund's internal control.

The management of the Fund is responsible for establishing and maintaining
internal control. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgments by
management are required to assess the expected benefits and related costs of
controls. Generally, controls that are relevant to an audit pertain to the
entity's objective of preparing financial statements for external purposes that
are fairly presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted
in the United States of America. Those controls include the safeguarding of
assets against unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition.

Because of inherent limitations in any internal control, misstatements due to
error or fraud may occur and not be detected. Also, projections of any
evaluation of internal control to future periods are subject to the risk that
the internal control may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or
that the degree of compliance with policies or procedures deteriorates.

Our consideration of the Fund's internal control would not necessarily disclose
all matters in internal control that might be material weaknesses under
standards established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United
States). A material weakness is a condition in which the design or operation of
one or more of the internal control components does not reduce to a relatively
low level the risk that misstatements caused by error or fraud in amounts that
would be material in relation to the financial statements being audited may
occur and not be detected within a timely period by employees in the normal
course of performing their assigned functions. However, we noted no matters
involving the Fund's internal control and its operation, including controls for
safeguarding securities, that we consider to be material weaknesses as defined
above as of September 30, 2004.

This report is intended solely for the information and use of management, the
Board of Trustees and shareholders of H&Q Healthcare Investors, and the
Securities and Exchange Commission and is not intended to be and should not be
used by anyone other than these specified parties.


Deloitte & Touche LLP
Boston, Massachusetts

November 22, 2004

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</DOCUMENT>
