The Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, will depart on Monday (August 28) for Shenzhen and Guangzhou to attend the "Mainland study tour of the senior secondary subject of Citizenship and Social Development (CS) thanksgiving session and launch ceremony of the new school year", jointly organised by the Department of Education of Guangdong Province and the Education Bureau. The Permanent Secretary for Education, Ms Michelle Li, will join the event.
 
     During the visit, Dr Choi will tour an enterprise that is a receiving unit for participants of CS study tours and the Guangzhou University City to learn about its planning, operation and management.
 
     Dr Choi will return to Hong Kong on Tuesday afternoon (August 29). During her absence, the Under Secretary for Education, Mr Sze Chun-fai, will be the Acting Secretary for Education.

     The Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung, will depart tomorrow (August 27) for Hanoi, Vietnam and Singapore. He will return to Hong Kong on the evening of August 31.
      
     In Vietnam, Mr Tang will call on the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), during which Hong Kong and Vietnam's Immigration Departments will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on enhancing operational co-operation and experience exchanges in respect of immigration matters. Mr Tang will also meet with representatives of the Department of External Security, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Foreign Relations under the MPS. 

     While in Singapore, he will call on the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Ministry of Manpower and agencies under the MHA's purview including the Singapore Police Force, the Internal Security Department as well as the Prison Service. He will visit the National Security Coordination Secretariat and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, and Interpol in Singapore. He will meet with the Hong Kong communities in the two places as well.
      
     The Director of Immigration, Mr Au Ka-wang, will accompany Mr Tang's visit to Vietnam, and the Commissioner of Correctional Services, Mr Wong Kwok-hing, will join part of the visit to Singapore.
      
     During Mr Tang's absence, the Under Secretary for Security, Mr Michael Cheuk, will be the Acting Secretary for Security.

     Police today (August 26) appealed to the public for information on a woman who went missing in Sau Mau Ping.
 
     Chen Oi-jun, aged 85, went missing after she left her residence in Shun Tin Estate yesterday (August 25) morning. Her family made a report to Police on the same day.
 
     She is about 1.52 metres tall, 45 kilograms in weight and of medium build. She has a round face with yellow complexion and short white and grey hair. She was last seen wearing a multi-coloured short sleeves shirt with black vertical stripe, black trousers, and white slippers.
 
      Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the missing woman or may have seen her is urged to contact the Regional Missing Persons Unit of Kowloon East on 3661 0316 or email to rmpu-ke-2@police.gov.hk, or contact any police station.

  

     â€‹Hong Kong Customs yesterday (August 25) seized about three kilograms of suspected methamphetamine with an estimated market value of about $1.5 million in To Kwa Wan. A woman was arrested.

     During an anti-narcotics operation conducted in To Kwa Wan yesterday afternoon, Customs officers intercepted a woman and found the batch of suspected methamphetamine inside a nylon bag carried by her. The woman was subsequently arrested.

     The arrested woman, who claimed to be unemployed, is 26 years old and has been charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug. She will appear at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts next Monday (August 28).

     Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, trafficking in a dangerous drug is a serious offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and life imprisonment.

     Members of the public may report any suspected drug trafficking activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002/).

  

     The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, met with a delegation led by the Director-General of the Department of Medical Emergency Response of the National Health Commission (NHC), Ms Guo Yanhong, today (August 26) to exchange views and have discussion on the collaboration with the Mainland in the realm of organ transplantation, with a view to laying a solid foundation for deepening co-operation ahead.

     Professor Lo said, "The unprecedented cross-boundary organ donation case was completed with resounding success by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Mainland in December last year. Not only did it save the life of a four-month-old baby girl, it also offers an opportunity for the two places to forge ahead the standing collaboration with greater confidence. This also serves to exemplify to the fullest the shared principle and mission of the Mainland and the HKSAR in protecting lives.

     "We are in exploration with the Mainland to push ahead organ donation and transplant co-operation on all fronts, including continuing the drive for in-depth co-operation on communication management, academic exchanges and organ transplant mutual assistance mechanism."

     Ms Guo introduced at the meeting the situation of organ donation and transplantation in the Mainland. In recent years, the Mainland has established and refined the organ donation and transplantation system with notable achievements. Five major work systems in organ donation, acquisition and allocation, clinical transplantation services, quality control and regulation are now in place, thus setting a work pattern in human organ donation and transplantation that is impartial in science, and can safeguard fairness with adherence to ethics and in line with China's national conditions and culture. The organ donation and transplantation work in the Mainland has recorded a rapid development, currently ranked second worldwide in the number of organ donation and transplantation, and is among the top level of organ transplantation technology in the world. The proposal by Professor Lo was also well responded to by the Mainland delegation. Next on the list is to press ahead the communication management in cross-boundary organ transplantation, and training to upskill the transplant technology capabilities, as well as to provide support for the standing co-operation through establishment of mechanism and improvement in organ transplant policies.

     Professor Lo added, "The HKSAR Government has deep gratitude to the strong support and collaborative effort of various Mainland authorities. We anticipate more patients will benefit from the organ transplant technology through the setting-up of a standing organ transplant mutual assistance mechanism with the Mainland."

     The delegation led by Ms Guo arrived Hong Kong yesterday (August 25) for a four-day visit. Members of the delegation include the Director of the Division of Medical Supervision of the Department of Medical Emergency Response of the NHC, Mr Gao Xinqiang; the Chairman of the China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation, Mr Zhao Hongtao; the Director of the Big Data Centre of NHC for Human Tissue, Organ Transplant and Medicine, Professor Wang Haibo; and members of the Scientific Committee of the China Organ Transplant Response System (COTRS), including Dr Dong Jiahong. During their visit to Hong Kong, the delegation will visit Hong Kong Children's Hospital and Queen Mary Hospital to get a better grasp of the organ donation arrangement and transplant service in Hong Kong. Besides, the delegation is in participation in the ongoing 18th Congress of Asian Society of Transplantation.

     The Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam, and the Chief Executive of the Hospital Authority, Dr Tony Ko, also attended the meeting today.