Tag Archives: China

     Following is a question by the Hon Chan Kin-por and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (May 29):
 
Question:
 
     The 24-hour Designated Hotline for Carer Support 182 183 (Carer Hotline) launched by the Government commenced operation in September last year. With a total of 30 phone lines, the Carer Hotline is answered by registered social workers to provide timely support for high-risk carers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether it will review the manpower deployment of the Carer Hotline based on the outcome of the analysis on the number of cases handled by the Carer Hotline and the nature of assistance sought since September last year, such as increasing or decreasing the number of phone lines as necessary and adjusting the number of persons on duty for different time sessions; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
 
(2) of the follow-up procedures upon receipt of requests for assistance by the Carer Hotline; as it is learnt that for cases in need of emergency support and outreaching visits that require follow-up services, service operators would usually refer the cases to the parties concerned within one day, whether it has reviewed if referrals for such cases can all be made within one day; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
 
(3) of the measures in place to step up publicity about the Carer Hotline among older carers, so as to increase the utilisation rate of the Carer Hotline?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     My reply to the question raised by the Hon Chan Kin-por is as follows:
 
(1) The Designated Hotline for Carer Support (Carer Hotline) has received 16 490 calls up to March 31, 2024. By nature of the calls received, about 38 per cent and 23 per cent sought emotional support and made enquiries about community support services respectively, whereas care issues and financial problems accounted for about 14 per cent and 7 per cent of the calls respectively. The rest of them were related to health and housing problems, requests for respite service, etc.
 
     The Social Welfare Department (SWD) commissioned the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (the service operator) to operate the 24-hour Carer Hotline, with a total of 30 phone lines answered by over 100 professional social workers on shift duties. The Carer Hotline is able to cope with the current and potential additional service demand in the short term, and has been operating smoothly so far. Under the prevailing subvention system, the service operator may exercise flexibility in deploying resources and arranging suitable manpower for meeting the relevant requirements and service needs. The SWD will also closely monitor the operation of the Carer Hotline with the service operator and make timely service adjustments, such as increasing or reducing the number of phone lines as necessary, so as to provide carers with appropriate services.
 
(2) The social workers of the Carer Hotline will first seek to understand the callers’ immediate conditions and needs upon receiving calls, and assess the welfare needs and risk factors of the cases. They will provide relevant information and recommend suitable support services according to the circumstances and make referrals with the consent of callers in case of need. If it is necessary to arrange emergency support and outreaching visits, the social workers of the Carer Hotline will usually reach the caller and provide services within one hour, and make referrals within one day if follow-up services are required. The social workers will also follow up after making referrals to ensure that services are provided to the cases in need. The service operator has continued to meet the above-mentioned requirements since the Carer Hotline was set up in September 2023.
 
(3) The Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) and the SWD publicise and promote the Carer Hotline through various channels. These include organising publicity activities under the “Care the Carers Campaign”; promoting on the LWB’s social media platform and public transport; conducting interviews with newspapers, radio, television and social media; displaying posters in social welfare service units, public housing estates, hospitals/clinics, etc; distributing leaflets and souvenirs, etc. The SWD has also introduced the Carer Hotline to service users of elderly and rehabilitation service units and their family members/carers through district platforms. In the social welfare service briefing sessions for the 18 District Councils (DCs), the SWD has introduced and encouraged the DC members and the District Services and Community Care Teams to assist in promoting the Carer Hotline. The Government will continue with the publicity and promotion work, so that needy elderly persons, persons with disabilities and their carers could receive necessary information and support. read more

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     The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, continued to attend the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA) of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday (May 28, Geneva time). He also took the chance to meet with other participants and WHO officials to tell the world the good stories of Hong Kong and the good stories of our country.

     As members of the Chinese delegation, Professor Lo and the Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam, attended the plenary session on the second day of the WHA while Vice-minister of the National Health Commission Mr Cao Xuetao addressed the plenary session on healthcare development in the Mainland.

     In addition to attending the plenary session, Professor Lo and Dr Lam met with the First Deputy Minister of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr Timur Sultangaziyev, to exchange views and share experiences on issues including promoting traditional medicine, nurturing healthcare talent and primary healthcare development.

     Professor Lo also gifted the delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan the books published by the Department of Health (DH) under the titles of “Hong Kong Characteristic Medicinal Plants” and “Compendium on Identification of Easily Confused Species of Chinese Materia Medica in Hong Kong by Macroscopic and Microscopic Characteristics”. He said, “The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government is moving full steam ahead to promote the development of two flagship organisations, namely the Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong and the Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute, and at the same time, work with the Chinese medicine (CM) sector to formulate the CM Development Blueprint to map out the visions and strategies for the way forward in CM development as well as aspects including CM services, profession, industry, education, research and public education to drive the high-quality development of CM in Hong Kong on all fronts, thereby contributing to the overall development of CM in the country and assisting the national drive for CM to go global.”

     Professor Lo and Dr Lam also took the opportunity to exchange views with senior officials of the WHO on various public health-related issues.

     At a meeting with the WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, Professor Lo stressed, “The HKSAR Government has been contributing to the safeguard of global public health by acting along the health strategies of the Mainland, and has also been strenuously supporting and acting in concert with the WHO and the Mainland in tackling various public health challenges. The DH is designated as the WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Smoking Cessation and Treatment of Tobacco Dependence. Furthermore, the WHO designated the Public Health Laboratory Services Branch of the Centre for Health Protection of the DH as a reference laboratory for various communicable diseases including COVID-19, making significant contribution to fight epidemics worldwide. The HKSAR Government will keep on maintaining close contact with member states and areas of the WHO on various issues to safeguard the health of citizens.”

     “Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala was impressed by the HKSAR Government’s efforts in promoting tobacco control and the development of primary healthcare. With our efforts in tobacco control over the past 40 years, Hong Kong’s smoking prevalence is now attaining an all-time low of about 9.1 per cent, as compared with the 23 per cent in early 1980s. Our target is to further lower the smoking prevalence to 7.8 per cent by 2025. To achieve this target, we are examining the implementation of different tobacco control measures in phases with a view to further reducing the smoking prevalence to safeguard public health.”

     While meeting the Unit Head of Global Influenza Programme of the WHO, Dr Zhang Wenqing, Professor Lo introduced to her the measures taken by Hong Kong in combating influenza. Attendees of the meeting agreed that strengthening of surveillance on influenza viruses, clinical investigations, research, development and manufacturing of vaccines, as well as public publicity and education, are all vital moves to combat influenza (including seasonal influenza, influenza infected from animals to humans and global outbreak).

     At a meeting with the Director for Regulation and Prequalification of the WHO, Dr Rogério Gaspar, Professor Lo introduced to him the enhancement of the prevailing regulatory, approval and registration mechanism of drugs, as well as the latest developments of promoting the research and development and clinical trial of drugs and medical devices in Hong Kong and collaboration of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. During the meeting, both parties exchanged views on the strengthening of the regulatory regime of drugs and medical devices, as well as the WHO Global Benchmarking Tool for evaluation of regulatory systems of medical products. They expressed support for further enhancement of the regulatory mechanism of drugs and medical devices in Hong Kong for more effective collaboration with drug regulatory authorities worldwide in public health protection.

     Professor Lo proceeds to Basel today (May 29, Geneva time) to begin his duty visit in Switzerland.

            

     â€‹The Fire and Rescue Corps of Guangdong Province, the Hong Kong Fire Services Department (FSD) and the Macao Fire Services Bureau conducted the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) joint emergency response and rescue exercise “Liancheng-2024” in Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, from May 27 to today (May 29). The exercise was conducted based on the GBA Emergency Response and Rescue Operational Plan, which aims at formulating and implementing a comprehensive and systematic emergency mobilisation and co-ordination mechanism, thus strengthening the capabilities in the GBA to jointly cope with disasters and incidents.

     The cross-boundary exercise simulated a strong earthquake in Pengjiang District, Jiangmen, which affected a wide range of areas. Multiple buildings collapsed, trapping numerous persons and causing a large number of casualties. The Fire and Rescue Corps of Guangdong Province then requested support from rescue teams across the Mainland. Upon notification of the incident, the fire services teams from Hong Kong and Macao immediately deployed personnel to the affected area to assist the rescue operation. The FSD deployed a total of 27 members from the Disaster Response and Rescue Team, five fire appliances and over 400 items of rescue equipment during the exercise. Over the 48-hour exercise, rescue teams from the three places conducted independent and joint operations in 11 different rescue scenarios, including a high-rise building rescue, a tilted building rescue, a collapsed container-based rescue, a rubble rescue, a mudslide rescue, a vertical shaft rescue and a cable-car rescue.

     The Deputy Director of Fire Services (Operations), Mr Angus Wong, said during the command meeting that the cross-boundary exercise had demonstrated the efficient deployment of rescue resources among the three places under the Operational Plan, achieving joint prevention and control and complementarity. The three places will consolidate the experience gained from the joint exercise and further optimise the relevant operational procedures, with a view to enhancing the efficiency of cross-boundary rescue efforts.

     The governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao are currently formulating the Operational Plan, and are expected to sign the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Emergency Management Co-operation and Greater Bay Area Emergency Response Operation Co-operation Framework Agreement in Hong Kong in mid-June this year. Under the Framework Agreement, personnel from the three places can complement each other’s strengths to facilitate the enhancement of emergency response management in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and strengthen the emergency response and rescue capabilities of the three places, injecting impetus into the development of emergency response management and rescue work in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and developing the GBA into a quality living circle ideal for living, working and travelling.

                

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     â€‹Kowloon West Cluster (KWC) today (May 28) announced a patient case who developed cardiac arrest after a suturing procedure:

     A four-year-old female child was brought to the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department of Yan Chai Hospital (YCH) by ambulance accompanied by her father at around 8pm on May 25 due to a head injury. At that time, the patient was ambulatory. After initial examination by the medical staff of YCH, the patient was found to have fever and a two-centimetre wound over occipital region. The patient was conscious at the time of assessment. Radiological examination of chest and skull showed no abnormality. Wound suture was prescribed by doctor.

     According to the record, the patient was assessed by a nurse for the wound condition at 11.10pm. A patient care assistant helped settling down and positioning the patient to allow the nurse to suture over the occipital region. When the suturing procedure was completed at around 11.31pm, the nurse found that the patient was unconscious and had no pulse. Medical staff then immediately performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and arranged intubation. The patient returned of spontaneous circulation at around 11.49pm. The medical staff arranged chest X-ray and computed tomography examination of the brain, which showed no abnormality. The patient was transferred to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) under escort by the PMH’s Paediatric team for further follow-up and treatment. The patient is currently in critical condition.

     Cluster Patient Relations Officer has maintained close communication with the patient’s family after the event, and clinical teams of PMH and YCH met patient’s family to explain the clinical situation in details and render all possible assistance to them.

     KWC is very concerned about this case and has reported this case to the Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System. PMH will continue to provide appropriate treatment to the patient. Since it is very rare for a patient to develop cardiac arrest during suturing procedure, KWC has invited experts from Paediatrics and A&E specialties to review the case, and further investigation for rare diseases was arranged, in order to determine the cause. read more