Tag Archives: China

     The Health Bureau (HHB) stated today (April 25) that the Government attaches great importance to citizens’ health and agreed that the quota of the dental General Public sessions has dropped significantly in 2022/23 due to the COVID-19 epidemic and the manpower shortage as pointed out in the Report No. 82 of the Director of Audit released by the Audit Commission yesterday (April 24). The HHB, the Department of Health (DH) and the Hospital Authority thanked the Audit Commission for the recommendations made in the Report regarding emergency dental services and elderly dental care support, and would study them thoroughly in order to enhance local dental services in an effective manner.

     A spokesman for the HHB said that the Government had established the Working Group on Oral Health and Dental Care at the end of 2022 to comprehensively review the dental care services provided or subsidised by the Government. The Working Group suggested in its interim report released at the end of last year that the Government should develop primary dental services for citizens and assist citizens in managing their own oral health to put prevention, early identification, and timely intervention of dental diseases into action. The Working Group also suggested the exploration of pursuing development of appropriate targeted dental services for underprivileged groups it defined (persons with financial difficulties, persons with disabilities or special needs, and high risk groups). The ultimate goal is to enhance the overall level of citizens’ oral health through retention of natural teeth.

     The Government shared the same view with the Working Group and is now strenuously planning a series of measures to enhance the dental services, including the collaboration with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to strengthen in next year the emergency dental services targeting the underprivileged groups with financial difficulties through expansion of service capacity, service points and service scope, thus promoting early identification and timely intervention of dental diseases. The target is to provide dental General Public sessions with additional service capacity which will be at least two times more than the current capacity. The HHB is finalising the programme details and will make announcement in due course.

     Furthermore, the HHB is implementing a series of measures to enhance the dental care services for different age groups and target groups, including the Primary Dental Co-Care Pilot Scheme for Adolescents for adolescents aged 13 to 17 years old to be launched next year, and within this year the strengthening of special care dental services for people with disabilities or special needs currently provided by the DH, and enhancement to the Elderly Dental Assistance Programme funded by the Community Care Fund.

     To ensure the availability of sufficient dental professionals to dovetail with the enhancement of dental services, the HHB has introduced the Dentists Registration (Amendment) Bill 2024 (the Bill) into the Legislative Council (LegCo) earlier this month to comprehensively amend the legislative framework that has been in place since 1959. The Bill proposes to create new pathways for admitting qualified non-locally trained dentists to practise in Hong Kong, and introduce an internship and a period of assessment to enrich the clinical experience of local dental graduates and non-locally trained dentists. In addition, the Bill updates the regulatory framework for dental hygienists and dental therapists to tie in with the Government’s policy direction of promoting oral health and dental care.

     In particular, the introduction of an internship for local dental graduates through legislation is by no means a newly deliberated add-on requirement. As a matter of fact, the Dental Council of Hong Kong (DCHK) conducted accreditation exercises on the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) programme of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) on several occasions, during which it had already repeatedly highlighted the need for enhancing the training of clinical skills and enriching the clinical experience of local BDS students. Through introducing the internship arrangement, the Government has addressed the views raised by the DCHK and the dental profession over the years on further enhancing the clinical skills and professional standards of dentists in order to better safeguard patients’ safety. The DCHK, the DH and the HKU Faculty of Dentistry are planning the implementation details of the internship programme, under which local dental graduates will be arranged to work in various postings in the public sector or NGOs, including School Dental Care Service, dental clinics and General Public sessions under the DH, oral maxillofacial surgery and dental services in public hospitals, as well as NGO dental clinics serving the underprivileged. This will enable local dental graduates to gain first-hand experience in real-life work settings, learn how to handle patients with various clinical conditions who are not previously screened by the school, and co-operate with other dentists and professionals in performing tasks. Such first-hand experience cannot be emulated by the simulation of dental procedures in school settings, and will substantially better prepare newcomers for their future practice.

     In all, the Bill will help boost the supply of dental manpower in Hong Kong to support public and subsidised dental services, and enhance the overall standards of dental professionals to better protect users of dental services. The Government will render full support to the LegCo in the scrutiny of the Bill to secure its early passage with a view to enabling Hong Kong citizens to enjoy dental services of a higher quality. read more

     Hong Kong Customs yesterday (April 24) detected a passenger drug trafficking case at Hong Kong International Airport and seized about 1 kilogram of suspected cocaine and about 1 gram of suspected cannabis buds with an estimated market value of about $1.2 million.
      
     A 54-year-old male passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Mexico City, Mexico, via Paris, France, yesterday. During Customs clearance, Customs officers found the batch of suspected cocaine concealed inside a false compartment of a backpack in his check-in suitcase. The man was then arrested. Subsequently, Customs officers also found about 1 gram of suspected cannabis buds inside his carry-on sling bag.
      
     An investigation is ongoing.
      
     Following the increasing number of visitors to Hong Kong, Customs will continue to apply a risk assessment approach and focus on selecting passengers from high-risk regions for clearance to combat transnational drug trafficking activities.
      
     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 a media report on the quality and professional qualifications of personnel of private health check centre, a spokesman for the Department of Health (DH) today (April 25) said that the professional registrati… read more

     Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the King’s Day of the Kingdom of the Netherlands today (April 25):

Consul-General van den Berg (Consul-General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Hong Kong, Mr Arjen van den Berg), Commissioner Li Yongsheng (Deputy Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), ladies and gentlemen,

     Good evening.

     I am delighted to join you, tonight, here to mark King’s Day, the annual celebration honouring His Majesty King Willem-Alexander. I’ve seen pictures of the festive holiday, and all I can say is that the Dutch know how to throw a birthday party. The revelry is nationwide, packed with street and canal parties, flea markets full of “treasures” and everyone with a glass or two of orange bitters in their hands. King’s Day is a happy time here in Hong Kong as well.

     I’m told that the Consul-General will host a “King’s Games” event here, in the garden of his official residence, this Saturday for schoolchildren. And I guess many of the thousands of Dutch nationals residing in Hong Kong will be dressed in orange deep into the weekend.

     Hong Kong and the Netherlands have much to celebrate. And not only on King’s Day.

     Just five months ago, Barbera Wolfensberger, Director-General of Culture and Media in the Netherland’s Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, led a Dutch delegation of some 50 members to visit Hong Kong. They included design and business leaders, as well as government officials, to help open the Business of Design Week, BODW, here. And much more: the Netherlands was BODW’s partner country last year, after taking on the role as a strategic partner since 2022.

     We are working together to boost trade, as well. Over the past four years, our bilateral trade had grown despite the pandemic.

     We would like to invest in each other’s opportunities, too. Hong Kong’s stock of direct investment to the Netherlands reached some US$45 billion in 2022; ranking fifth among Hong Kong’s major investment destinations.

     Not surprisingly, the Dutch business community maintains a significant presence here, with some 190 Dutch companies operating in Hong Kong, ranking third among European nations. I know that a good many Dutch companies are with us this good evening.

     And I’m confident you will be with us for the long haul, for the rewarding future here for all of us. Thanks to our “one country, two systems” framework, Hong Kong is blessed with opportunity.

     Looking to the future, for Hong Kong and the Netherlands, there is much we can work together on.

     Sustainability and circularity, the theme of this year’s King’s Day celebrations, hold tremendous promise.

     The green transition process in Hong Kong and the broader region requires expertise and specialised technologies, and we know that many Dutch companies offer advanced green technology solutions. I invite Dutch companies to join us, to capture the opportunities in this region.

     We are a rising hub for innovation and technology, too. Dutch companies will find enormous opportunities in a number of new star industries: artificial intelligence, biomedicine, fintech, new energy and new materials.

     We are systematically building to realise a flourishing future. Since the end of 2022, OASES, our Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises has helped about 50 such high-tech companies set up or expand their presence here in Hong Kong, with total investments exceeding $40 billion.

     Our vision also includes the Northern Metropolis, which will host a cluster of high-tech industries that will take full advantage of the synergy with Shenzhen, our fast-moving neighbour.

     Just last week, the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park held a Partnership Launching Ceremony, with some 60 innovative companies from all over the world taking part.

     They will add their strategic expertise to the Park and to Hong Kong’s I&T (innovation and technology) future. The Park, by the way, is rapidly taking shape. Two laboratories and an accommodation building will be completed, progressively, from the end of this year.

     For all these and other opportunities, we welcome Dutch businesses, entrepreneurs and innovators.

     Consul-General, you and your colleagues have long taken an active role in forging closer economic ties and cultural exchanges with Hong Kong. For that, I am grateful.

     I know you will complete your assignment here in Hong Kong in June. My congratulations on your new posting – as Ambassador for Central America. You will be missed.

     Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a very happy King’s Day. Thank you.

  

     The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) today (April 25) announced the latest implementation status of the SMS Sender Registration Scheme (the Scheme), and encouraged more industries to actively participate in the Scheme.
 
     The Scheme has been launched since the end of last year, and has been opened up to all industries for participation since February this year. To date, nearly 170 organisations have joined the Scheme (see Annex for details), including telecommunications service providers, banks and 31 government departments and statutory bodies which need to communicate with members of the public via SMS messages (including the Immigration Department, the Department of Health, the Hong Kong Police Force, the Customs and Excise Department, the Transport Department, the Consumer Council and the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority). The Director-General of Communications had previously sent letters to all other government departments and the Legislative Council Secretariat inviting their participation in the Scheme. OFCA has also allocated additional resources and manpower to process relevant applications.
 
     According to the Scheme, only those companies or organisations being Registered Senders under the Scheme are able to send SMS messages to local subscribers of mobile services using their Registered SMS Sender IDs with the prefix “#”. Any SMS messages with sender IDs containing “#” but not sent by Registered Senders will be blocked by the telecommunications networks.
 
      “Under the Scheme, members of the public can easily identify whether an SMS message is from a Registered Sender by looking for the prefix ‘#’ in the SMS Sender ID, thereby reducing the risk of SMS fraud. We are encouraged by the widespread support for the Scheme, and call for more companies or organisations to join the Scheme and become Registered Senders, with a view to enhancing the security and credibility of SMS messages and providing better protection to members of the public,” a spokesman for OFCA said.
 
      “We will continue to review the various measures from the telecommunications perspectives to curb telephone and SMS scams by interception at source, including blocking or suspending services of telephone numbers and websites suspected of committing fraud based on fraud records provided by Police, fully implementing the real-name registration programme for SIM cards, sending voice or text alerts to users for calls originating from places outside Hong Kong prefixed with ‘+852’, so as to combat fraudulent calls and messages in a comprehensive manner,” the spokesman added.
 
     For details of the Scheme, please visit the dedicated webpage (www.ofca.gov.hk/en/consumer_focus/guide/hot_topics/ssrs/) or call OFCA’s hotline (2961 6333). read more