Secretary for Health attends 19th Joint Meeting of Senior Health Officials of Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao in Dunhuang (with photos)

     The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, led a delegation to attend the 19th Joint Meeting of Senior Health Officials of the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao hosted by the National Health Commission (NHC) in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, today (August 29).

     The Joint Meeting has long been a platform for senior medical and health officials as well as experts from the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao to exchange views, share experiences and enhance co-operation on present-day medical and public health issues. The Joint Meeting is hosted by the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao in rotation.

     The Minister of the NHC, Mr Lei Haichao, and the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government, Ms Ao Ieong U, led respectively senior health officials from the Mainland and the Macao SAR Government to participate in the Joint Meeting. Members of the three delegations engaged in sharing and discussions over three major topics, namely review of the COVID-19 epidemic and the way forward for prevention and control of infectious diseases, advancing innovation and development in healthcare technology, and strengthening primary healthcare services today.

     Professor Lo said, "The country has been providing unwavering support to the Hong Kong SAR Government's healthcare efforts, enabling us to forge ahead towards high-quality development against challenges. Following the success of hosting the Joint Meeting in Hong Kong last year, the Hong Kong SAR Government has been making progressive developments in various healthcare reform initiatives on all fronts, and these efforts are starting to bear fruit.

     "Since the announcement of developing Hong Kong into an international health and medical innovation hub in the Chief Executive's 2023 Policy Address, the Government has been actively taking forward a number of initiatives, including strengthening the capacity of drug evaluation of the Hong Kong SAR and progressing toward a primary evaluation approach, as well as the establishment of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) International Clinical Trial Institute in the Hong Kong Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone within this year to develop clinical trials in collaboration with the Shenzhen Park under the 'one zone, two parks' model." 

     On cross-boundary medical collaboration, the Hong Kong SAR Government has been enhancing co-operation with Mainland cities and Macao under the principles of complementarity and mutual benefits and on the premise of benefitting the development of healthcare systems of Hong Kong, the Mainland and Macao. Taking the past three months as an example, cross-boundary medical collaboration has been making good progress, with concrete achievements being made every month. 

(1) Starting from June this year, the coverage of the Elderly Health Care Voucher has been extended to five medical and dental services institutions in Guangzhou, Zhongshan and Shenzhen under the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme, and will be further extended to two medical institutions in Dongguan and Nansha early next month.

(2) In July this year, the Hong Kong SAR Government piloted two new functions of the Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHealth) mobile application, namely "Cross-boundary Health Record" and "Personal Folder" at the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital. Under the overarching principles of ensuring due compliance of laws and regulations of both places and that data security and patients' privacy are fully safeguarded, the new functions enable citizens to carry their electronic health records for cross-boundary uses, with a view to receiving more accurate diagnosis and treatment. The two functions will be extended to the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University and Zhongshan Chen Xinghai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine starting September 6.

(3) On August 23 this year, the Hong Kong SAR Government, in collaboration with the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Shenzhen Municipal Government, conducted a drill simulating the transfer of patients under the cross-boundary ambulance arrangement. The direct point-to-point transfer of suitable patients between hospitals in Hong Kong and Shenzhen by ambulance can avoid the handover of patients between ambulances at boundary control points, thereby reducing medical risks. 

     In the afternoon, the Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam, moderated the discussion on the topic of advancing innovation and development in healthcare technology, with Deputy Secretary for Health Ms Elaine Mak giving a presentation. Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Primary Healthcare, Dr Pang Fei-chau, gave a presentation on the topic of strengthening primary healthcare services.

     The Chairman of the Hospital Authority (HA), Mr Henry Fan, and the Chief Executive of the HA, Dr Tony Ko, also joined the Hong Kong SAR Government delegation.

     Professor Lo and his delegation visited the Zhuanqukou Community Health Center of Dunhuang City and the Disease Control and Prevention Center of Dunhuang City yesterday (August 28) to get a better grasp of the latest healthcare developments and primary healthcare work in Dunhuang.