The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, met with a delegation led by the President of the Guangdong Province Hospital Association, Professor Huang Li, today (January 16) to exchange views on deepening medical co-operation between the Mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).
At the meeting, Professor Lo introduced to the delegation the latest policy initiatives on cross-boundary medical collaboration put forward by the HKSAR Government, including the extension of coverage of the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme on the Mainland, cross-boundary medical services as well as high-quality healthcare talent training and exchange programmes.
Professor Lo said, "The HKSAR Government attaches great importance to cross-boundary medical collaboration. In his 2023 Policy Address, the Chief Executive adopted for the first time 'Cross-boundary Medical Collaboration' as one of the subtitles and proposed a number of specific measures, including the establishment of the Greater Bay Area International Clinical Trial Institute to achieve concerted development in clinical trials with the Mainland; participation in and support to the internationalisation of national hospital accreditation standards; the roll-out of the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme; utilising eHealth digital health records to support cross-boundary medical collaboration in the Greater Bay Area; provision of direct cross-boundary ambulance service; and promotion of the accreditation standards of national chest pain centres.
"Under the principle of complementarity and mutual benefits and on the premise of benefitting the healthcare development of both the Mainland and Hong Kong, the HKSAR Government has all along been working together with various counterparts on the Mainland in reinforcing co-operation on healthcare service developments with a view to levelling up the healthcare quality. Looking ahead, we will remain committed to fostering cross-boundary medical co-operation so as to propel the important national strategy of 'Healthy China' through concerted contribution."
Deputy Secretary for Health Mr Eddie Lee; the Senior Advisor (Secretary for Health's Office), Dr Joe Fan; the Director of Cluster Services of the Hospital Authority (HA), Dr Simon Tang; and representatives of the Health Bureau, the Department of Health and the HA also attended the meeting today.
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