Author Archives: hksar gov

     Hong Kong Customs yesterday (May 7) seized about 4.4 kilograms of suspected crack cocaine and about 600 grams of suspected synthetic cathinone (bath salts) with a total estimated market value of about $6 million in Sai Wan. A man suspected to be connected with the case was arrested.

     During an anti-narcotics operation conducted in the vicinity of Sai Wan yesterday, Customs seized the batch of suspected crack cocaine and suspected synthetic cathinone (bath salts) inside a mini-storage locker in an industrial building.

     On the same day, Customs officers arrested a 19-year-old man suspected to be connected with the case in Sai Wan. He claimed to be a transportation worker.

     An investigation is ongoing. The likelihood of further arrests is not ruled out.

     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/).

  

     In response to the Japanese Government’s plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station, the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene issued a Food Safety Order which prohibits all aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds originating from the 10 metropolis/prefectures, namely Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, from being imported into and supplied in Hong Kong.
 
     For other Japanese aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds that are not prohibited from being imported into Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will conduct comprehensive radiological tests to verify that the radiation levels of these products do not exceed the guideline levels before they are allowed to be supplied in the market.
 
     As the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water is unprecedented and will continue for 30 years or more, the Government will closely monitor and step up the testing arrangements. Should anomalies be detected, the Government does not preclude further tightening the scope of the import ban.
 
     From noon on May 7 to noon today (May 8), the CFS conducted tests on the radiological levels of 297 food samples imported from Japan, which were of the “aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt” category. No sample was found to have exceeded the safety limit. Details can be found on the CFS’s thematic website titled “Control Measures on Foods Imported from Japan” (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rafs/programme_rafs_fc_01_30_Nuclear_Event_and_Food_Safety.html).
 
     In parallel, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has also tested 50 samples of local catch for radiological levels. All the samples passed the tests. Details can be found on the AFCD’s website (www.afcd.gov.hk/english/fisheries/Radiological_testing/Radiological_Test.html).
 
     The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) has also enhanced the environmental monitoring of the local waters. No anomaly has been detected so far. For details, please refer to the HKO’s website
(www.hko.gov.hk/en/radiation/monitoring/seawater.html).
 
     From August 24 to noon today, the CFS and the AFCD have conducted tests on the radiological levels of 49 277 samples of food imported from Japan (including 32 042 samples of aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt) and 12 784 samples of local catch respectively. All the samples passed the tests.
 
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     Following is a question by the Hon Stanley Li and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (May 8):

Question:

     Many members of the public have indicated that the waiting time for specialist outpatient services and related medical examination services at public hospitals is excessively long. Regarding cross-boundary medical co-operation, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it knows the average waiting time for various examination services (e.g. Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging) at public hospitals in the past five years;

(2) given that the Government launched the Pilot Scheme for Supporting Patients of Hospital Authority in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area last year to enable eligible patients of the Hospital Authority to receive subsidised consultation services at the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, whether the Government will consider extending in the near future the healthcare institutions in which such patients can receive consultation services to Mainland hospitals accredited under the China’s International Hospital Accreditation Standards (2021 Version) (the Accreditation Standards) (accredited Mainland hospitals) and hospitals of Tier 3 Class A in the Mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(3) in order to alleviate the burden on the public healthcare system in Hong Kong, whether the Government will consider recognising the medical records issued by the accredited Mainland hospitals, and publishing the list of accredited Mainland hospitals for public reference; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(4) whether the Government will consider referring members of the public who have needs for specialist services to the accredited Mainland hospitals for further examinations if they so wish; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(5) whether the Government will consider co-operating with more Mainland cities to build more healthcare institutions on the Mainland that adopt the Hong Kong management model and are accredited under the Accreditation Standards, so as to promote cross-boundary medical co-operation; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     In consultation with the Hospital Authority (HA), the consolidated reply to the question raised by the Hon Stanley Li is as follows:

(1) The HA will determine the priority of patients’ attendance at Specialist Out-patient Clinics (SOPCs) according to their clinical conditions and arrange correspondingly the necessary investigation services. The waiting time for various diagnostic radiological investigation services of public hospitals in the past five years is set out in the Annex.

(2) to (5) Under the principle of complementarity and mutual benefits, the Government promotes healthcare collaboration in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) with a view to fully leveraging the composite advantages of the three places, and jointly improving the standards and development of different aspects of healthcare in the GBA.

     One area of the Government’s work in the aspect of healthcare co-operation in the GBA is to explore supporting the healthcare needs of Hong Kong residents who have close ties with the Mainland cities in the GBA through co-operation with suitable GBA healthcare institutions. Amongst such work, the Government has allowed the elderly to use the Elderly Health Care Vouchers (EHCVs) to pay for the fees of designated out-patient healthcare services at the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKU-SZH) since 2015. Such an arrangement has been regularised in 2019 and extended to the Huawei Li Zhi Yuan Community Health Service Center of the HKU-SZH in April last year. To offer eligible Hong Kong elderly persons additional options of service points for using EHCVs in the GBA, the Government also announced in February this year the inclusion of five integrated medical institutions in the GBA into the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme. The pilot medical institutions are expected to gradually launch the relevant arrangements starting from the third quarter of this year. Together with the two service points of the HKU-SZH, there will be a total of seven integrated medical institutions in the core cities of the GBA with full coverage along the river, taking care of the retired elderly persons living in the Guangdong province.

     In addition, making reference to the experience from a special support scheme during the COVID-19 epidemic, the Government also launched the Pilot Scheme for Supporting Patients of the Hospital Authority in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Pilot Scheme) on May 10 last year, so that patients with scheduled follow-up appointments at designated SOPCs or General Out-patient Clinics (GOPCs) of the HA may receive subsidised consultations at the HKU-SZH. At present, the Pilot Scheme covers major SOPC and GOPC services provided by the HA, including anaesthesiology (pain clinic only); cardiothoracic surgery; clinical oncology; ear, nose and throat; eye; gynaecology; internal medicine; neurosurgery; obstetrics; orthopaedics and traumatology (orthopaedics); paediatrics; and surgery. The Government has earlier announced that the Pilot Scheme will be extended to March 31 next year, and will consider the continuation of the Pilot Scheme and future arrangements subject to the actual effectiveness of the scheme.

     To further optimise the use of healthcare resources in the GBA, “The Chief Executive’s 2023 Policy Address” also put forward strategic purchasing of healthcare services from suitable GBA healthcare institutions for Hong Kong citizens, with a view to alleviating the service pressure of public hospitals in Hong Kong and shortening the waiting time of citizens. The Government is currently exploring with suitable GBA healthcare institutions the arrangements for purchasing healthcare services. The initial idea is to start with healthcare services with immense demand and of lower risks, such as investigation or imaging services, and devise the service model for the purchase and specific arrangements under the premise of compliance with relevant laws and regulations of both places. As the healthcare needs, relevant laws and regulations as well as regulatory regimes for the healthcare professions of Hong Kong and the Mainland are different, the Government needs to carefully consider the service arrangements and modes of professional collaboration with the relevant Mainland organisations in the course of procurement of healthcare services, and gradually expand room for co-operation, with a view to ensuring that the procurement arrangements are practicable and will be beneficial to both sides.

     In respect of health records, to dovetail with cross-boundary healthcare collaborations and to support cross-boundary healthcare needs of Hong Kong citizens, the Government has all along been enabling citizens to carry their electronic health records (eHRs) for cross-boundary uses through various means to allow more accurate diagnosis and treatment, in accordance with the overarching principles of ensuring due compliance of laws and regulations of both places and that data security and patients’ privacy are fully safeguarded. Health records of patients are personal data. In the process of enhancing data portability, the Government will duly consider the compatibility of the systems, safeguards on privacy, data security and compatibility of laws and regulations of both places, with a view to unleashing the potential of cross-boundary health data use in a step-by-step manner.

     At present, citizens may view important health records including medications, allergies and adverse drug reactions, appointments and investigations on the mobile application of the Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHealth). Citizens may also apply for copies of their individual electronic health records (eHRs) stored in eHealth in paper or electronic format for sharing with non-local healthcare service providers. The Government has also launched a special measure such that citizens joining the Pilot Scheme may authorise the HKU-SZH to obtain and use copies of their eHRs in eHealth (including laboratory test results and radiology reports), thereby enabling healthcare personnel in both places to provide healthcare services to them. The Government will extend the relevant arrangements to other cross-boundary collaboration projects launched or recognised by the Government. 

     Under the five-year plan of eHealth+, the Government will introduce a new function to allow citizens to retrieve their own eHRs stored in eHealth directly through the eHealth mobile application and to store their health records obtained when seeking medical attention outside Hong Kong in their personalised eHealth accounts, so as to allow members of the public to keep and use their personal medical records from within and outside Hong Kong.

     The Government will continue to closely monitor the progress of various healthcare collaboration initiatives and explore various feasible measures under the principle of complementarity and mutual benefits with a view to supporting the medical needs of Hong Kong citizens more effectively. These include exploring extension of the collaboration scope of relevant initiatives to other Mainland healthcare institutions in the GBA. In the process, the Government will consider the service standards and clinical governance structure of those healthcare institutions, including whether they adopt the “Hong Kong management model” as well as healthcare institutions accredited under the China’s International Hospital Accreditation Standards (Note). The Government’s policy objective is to enable Hong Kong people who travel between or reside in the two places and some of those who intend to settle in the GBA to reside and integrate into local life, instead of solely relying on healthcare resources in the Mainland to meet the needs of Hong Kong people. At the same time, the Government will continue to take forward measures that are conducive to building up and improving standards of the overall healthcare manpower pool in the GBA. For example, through talent exchange programmes, healthcare professionals in the GBA are offered good opportunities to learn from each other and raise clinical work standards, so that healthcare manpower resources of the three places can be jointly developed for the benefit of the people, and, to a certain extent, alleviating the pressure of manpower shortage in local public hospitals.

Note: The China’s International Hospital Accreditation Standards were jointly developed by hospital accreditation experts from Hong Kong and the Mainland with the national “Tier III Class A” hospital accreditation standards as the basis according to the requirements of the International Society for Quality in Health Care while drawing on international experience, serving as the nation’s first internationally recognised hospital accreditation standard. read more

     Following is a question by Dr the Hon Junius Ho and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, in the Legislative Council today (May 8):   Question:        … read more

     Following is a question by Dr the Hon Lo Wai-kwok and a written reply by the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, in the Legislative Council today (May 8):

Question:

     The 2023 Policy Address has announced the establishment of the Digital Policy Office (DPO) by merging the existing Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) and the Efficiency Office. On the other hand, it has been reported that recently, system launch failures occurred one after another for electronic service systems of the Government and public organisations (including the mobile applications “Check-in Smart (HKDSE)” and “i-Invigilation (HKDSE)” of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, as well as the intelligent sports and recreation services booking and information system “SmartPLAY” of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department), and the relevant organisations would usually explain afterwards that system failures were due to system overload caused by a login traffic far exceeding the expected level during testing. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether the existing OGCIO or DPO to be established will, in the light of the expected number of users and the scale of different electronic service system projects of the Government and public organisations, improve the relevant practice guidelines and enhance monitoring by, for example, (i) requiring the contractors concerned to conduct various levels of load and extreme testing and even requiring the engagement of an independent third party for evaluation; (ii) including the past performance of contractors as one of the criteria for tender assessment; and (iii) specifying an incentive and penalty mechanism in the tenders; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; 

(2 )as there are views that with the progressive integration of cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), the development of the event economy in Hong Kong will induce more non-Hong Kong residents to register or purchase tickets for participation in various activities through electronic service systems of the Government, whether the authorities will consider commissioning the system contractors concerned to launch, in collaboration with large-scale electronic service providers in GBA, the relevant electronic service systems applicable in GBA, so as to achieve the complementarity of advantages; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
 
(3) as there are views pointing out that the co-hosting of the 15th ‍National Games by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in 2025 will pose greater challenges to cross-boundary interconnectivity in the flow of people, goods, capital and information amongst the three places, and the relevant government electronic service systems (including ticketing systems) must measure up to higher requirements, whether the authorities will expeditiously step up communication and collaboration with the relevant Mainland and Macao authorities and formulate plans to cope with the situation in case of failures of the relevant systems; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     Having consulted the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau (CSTB), my reply to the three parts of the question is as follows:
 
(1) The government information technology (IT) projects mainly serve to meet the service needs of individual departments. Hence, these IT projects are spearheaded by responsible bureaux and departments (B/Ds) to ensure that the development and operation of the systems cater for respective B/Ds’ policies and the needs of their public service recipients. To instil greater public confidence in the Government’s implementation of digital services, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) has since end-2023 strengthened its support to the B/Ds in respect of their governance of IT projects at different levels, by enhancing the departments’ risk management mechanism concerning the initiation, development and rollout of the electronic service systems, in order to further improve the stability and security of e-government systems. The support measures include requiring the B/Ds to raise the weighting of technical assessments in tender marking schemes to 70 per cent when procuring system development services for large-scale or high-risk IT projects, and to conduct third-party independent test before launching electronic services to assess system resilience to abnormal or extreme loading as well as cyberattacks.

     The recent hiccups in the performance of IT systems upon rollout by individual public bodies show that besides government departments, public bodies must also plan carefully and conduct sufficient testing before launching public-facing electronic services to ensure the secure and stable operation of the system. The OGCIO is actively examining appropriate guidelines and technical support to the B/Ds to strengthen their governance of new IT systems launched by public bodies within their purview, including adequate testing before system rollout.

     We are seeking the views and necessary approval of the Legislative Council on the establishment of the Digital Policy Office, which is expected to be in place in mid-2024. This office will continue to undertake the existing functions and work of the OGCIO, including the above-mentioned support to the B/Ds in the governance of their own IT systems projects as well as those of the public bodies under their policy oversight. It will also strengthen its function to steer and guide the B/Ds in responding to the needs and expectations of society in an appropriate manner as we take forward implementation of electronic government services.
 
(2) According to information provided by the CSTB, there are at present different service systems in the local market, such as the Urban Ticketing System (URBTIX) operated by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and some privately-run systems, for event organisers to select the suitable ticketing arrangement in light of their programmes, activities and sales strategies. The URBTIX provides a wide range of ticketing channels (including box offices and self-service kiosks, booking hotlines and 24-hour online and mobile application ticketing services) and a variety of electronic payment methods (including credit card, debit card, UnionPay card, Octopus, Alipay, WeChat Pay and the Faster Payment System) to facilitate purchase of ticket by the public and tourists, including tourists from Mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area. Tourists from different places can opt for ticket delivery to the Mainland and overseas, or collect them at the URBTIX box offices/self-service kiosks before the performance, after purchasing the tickets online or through mobile application of URBTIX. E-tickets are also available for individual programmes. Some organisers of programmes held in Hong Kong also choose to sell tickets through Mainland sales channels, including online ticketing systems and travel websites.
 
     In addition, to further enhance convenience to Mainland visitors who use our government services, the 2023 Policy Address has set the indicator to provide an option for making payment by Mainland e-wallets for government services commonly used by Mainland visitors (including booking of various leisure facilities) by the third quarter of 2024. This measure will facilitate Mainland residents’ purchase of tickets for programmes or activities including different mega events through relevant government electronic systems.
 
(3) The Government attaches great importance to the preparatory work in Hong Kong for the 15th National Games, the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 9th National Special Olympic Games. On the part concerning the IT systems of the Games, the National Games Coordination Office (Hong Kong) of the CSTB has already started discussions about the work involved with the General Administration of Sport of China (GASC) and the concerned authorities of Guangdong Province and Macao in collaboration with the OGCIO. We will formulate practical and feasible implementation plans with regard to the requirements set out in the overall IT plan of the GASC and the actual situation in Hong Kong. We will also arrange system testing in due course, with a view to ensuring that the IT systems and electronic services of the Games, including the network and communication system, competition information system, event management system, etc., will operate smoothly. read more