â€‹The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, today (August 27) led his team of Principal Officials to attend the second 2023 Policy Address District Forum to continue to listen to views and suggestions of members of local communities on the upcoming Policy Address. The District Forum was held at Sha Tin Government Secondary School and attended by about 120 people from all walks of life. All 21 Principal Officials participated in the District Forum.
      
     The District Forum lasted two hours. In the first session, the Chief Executive and the Principal Officials listened to views of members of the public. The topics discussed covered a wide range of areas including land and housing, transport, finance and trade, arts and culture, employment, education, youth, poverty alleviation, healthcare and social welfare. In the second session, participants were divided into four groups with the themes of "Boosting Economy" and "People's Livelihood" to engage in extensive discussions with the Principal Officials. Mr Lee interacted with members of the public of each group in turn and listened to their views.
      
     Mr Lee said, "My team and I have gained a lot and received many valuable views from the District Forums conducted today and last week. I would like to express my gratitude to the participants for offering their insights and ideas. The matters of their concern are important reference for us in setting policy directions and priorities. We will continue to press ahead with various measures to improve people's livelihood and bring Hong Kong's development to a new level, and to work together with everyone to build a better home.
      
     "The Government has held more than 30 consultation sessions so far for the 2023 Policy Address, including the two District Forums, to tap the views and suggestions of members of the public and representatives from different sectors on the Policy Address. My team and I will continue to meet with representatives from different sectors and visit different districts to listen to their views. We will do our utmost for the people's livelihood and the economy."
      
     The 2023 Policy Address will be delivered on October 25. Members of the public can continue to give their views through various channels, including the Policy Address dedicated website and social media platforms or by phone, email, fax or post.

The following is issued on behalf of the Liquor Licensing Board:

     The Liquor Licensing Board will meet on Tuesday (August 29) to consider an application for renewal of liquor licence.

     The application is:
 
New Territories:
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"Hap Lei Fong Fong Restaurant" in Tsuen Wan

     The meeting will be held at 9.45am in the conference room, Room 102, 1/F, 258 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai. Members of the public are welcome to attend.

     To improve the flexibility and efficiency of desilting works and reduce safety risks to workers entering drainage facilities and rivers, the Drainage Services Department has introduced remote-controlled desilting robots to assist in its work.
 
     News.gov.hk spoke to the department's engineers to learn about how two types of desilting robots are bringing benefits to the public through enhanced work efficiency.
 
     The story is available at www.news.gov.hk/eng/feature today (August 27) in text and video format.
 

     The Transport Department today (August 27) reminded members of the public that the eighth round of computer ballot registration  for submitting applications for Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles (the Scheme) will be open from 10am tomorrow (August 28) to 11.59pm on August 31. The ballot result will be announced on September 1.
      
     Eligible applicants for Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles can register for computer balloting through the designated website (www.hzmbqfs.gov.hk). Successful applicants of balloting are required to submit applications for the Scheme within the designated date and time randomly allocated by the computer system.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority (HA) today (August 27) announced that medication delivery service will be available in all specialist out-patient clinics (SOPCs) (excluding the SOPCs in St John Hospital) when the service extends to the New Territories West Cluster tomorrow (August 28). By then, suitable patients of SOPCs can choose to have their medications directly delivered to their homes or designated addresses in Hong Kong to save time on medication collection.

     The Chief Pharmacist of the HA, Dr Benjamin Lee, said that the new medication delivery service has received a positive response from patients since it was launched in May and gradually extended to different clusters. Over 1 300 SOPC patients have utilised this service so far and the utilisation is expected to increase when the service is fully implemented in all HA SOPCs.

     Dr Lee encouraged patients to make use of the added feature "Pharmacist Medication Counselling Service" that comes with the medication delivery service when arranging a delivery request. HA pharmacists will contact patients via telephone or video call to provide medication counselling service and answer drug-related enquiries, ensuring proper use of medication and enhance treatment outcomes.

     Starting from September, the service will also be available under the "Carer" and "My Child" modes in the HA mobile application "HA Go". This will enable family members or caregivers of SOPC patients as well as parents of SOPC patients under the age of 18 to arrange medication delivery after consultation. Moving forward, the service will cover more types of medications prescribed to patients discharged from the hospital, those receiving accident and emergency services, and patients refilling medications, offering more people a convenient way to collect medications.  

     The HA reminded that patients who opt for the medication delivery service to ensure there is no newly prescribed medication that needs to be taken immediately and they have enough drugs on hand that can last until the estimated delivery of the new medications. Patients can arrange for their medications to be delivered to home or a local designated address through the "HA Go" app, and a standard delivery fee of $65 per prescription will be charged. The service covers most medications, including refrigerated items, except for controlled medications classified as Dangerous Drugs under the laws of Hong Kong. Patients, or their assigned representatives, are required to show a drug collection QR code in the "HA Go" app as a means of identity verification on receipt of their medications to ensure that the medications are safely delivered.