The Hong Kong Museum of History (HKMH) will launch the first large-scale exhibition of the General History of China Exhibition Series in collaboration with the Chinese Culture Promotion Office, "The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: The Ancient Civilisation of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties in Henan Province" exhibition on April 3, to showcase over 150 sets of cultural relics including large and complete sets of bronze ware, jade ware, potteries, bone ware and oracle bones, from the collections of the Henan Museum, as well as a dozen other museums and cultural institutions in the province, allowing members of the public to know more about the ancient civilisation and history of China. Admission to the exhibition is free. The exhibition period will run until July 8. The invaluable cultural relics have arrived in Hong Kong and experts from Henan and the curatorial team in Hong Kong are working intensively for the exhibition.
 
     Through showcasing precious cultural relics of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, this exhibition introduces traces of important cities' remains in Henan Province and the political, social, rituals and etiquette, and cultural landscapes of the three dynasties.

     The HKMH team went to Henan Province to check and receive the cultural relics with experts from Henan earlier. As the cultural relics to be showcased are age-old while some of them are relatively large and heavy, precise calculation is needed for the arrangement for transportation and load-bearing showcases.

     One of the highlight exhibits, grade-one national treasure "Wang Zi Wu" ding, is from a collection of the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology from the Spring and Autumn Period of ancient China. Wang Zi Wu is a son of King Zhuang of Chu, one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period. Around the belly of the ding, there are six kui-dragons climbing and biting the rim as if they are searching for water. The vivid and lifelike depiction showcases the unique style of Chu bronzes. The "Wang Zi Wu" ding weighs 75 kilograms and is the heaviest single-item exhibit of this exhibition. The museum team has done meticulous calculation, risk mitigation and control, from opening the crate to moving the artefact to its showcase and optimising the viewing angle, so that the artefact can be displayed in its best and safe condition.
 
     As the exhibits of this exhibition are of various shapes and forms, tailor-made showcases with stand supports are required for some of them so that visitors can appreciate them from all angles. Another grade-one national treasure, a jade face cover dated to Western Zhou, is from a collection of the Henan Museum. The face cover comprises 58 jade pieces, arranged based on the facial structure of a person, for sewing onto silk fabrics and being placed over the face of the deceased during burial, as ancient people believed that jade could prevent the body from decaying.
      
     "Xiao Chen Tuo Jian" jade cong (tube) from a collection of the Guo State Museum of Sanmenxia is a Shang object also unearthed from a tomb of Western Zhou. Round on the inside and square on the outside, the jade cong was a ritual object used to worship the earth and communicate with spirits and deities. When looking closely, visitors could see an inscription on the flat surface of the cong that reads "Xiao Chen Tuo Jian", indicating that it was a tribute offered to the Shang king by his minister Tuo. In order to draw the attention of the visitors to the inscription on the flat surface of the cong, the museum team has specially added an image for illustration purpose.
      
     This is the first exhibition of the General History of China Exhibition Series, launched by the Chinese Culture Promotion Office in collaboration with the HKMH. Subsequently, the HKMH will stage exhibitions every year on historical relics of significant periods in chronological order. The series will conclude in 2029 with an exhibition celebrating the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department has long been promoting Chinese history and culture through organising an array of programmes and activities to enable the public to learn more about the broad and profound Chinese culture. For more information, please visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/ccpo/index.html.
      
     The HKMH will organise fringe programmes during the exhibition period, including music performance and sharing by the Huaxia Ancient Music Orchestra of the Henan Museum. Members of the public can learn about the Chinese musical instruments and enhance their understanding of the ancient music culture of the Central Plains under the guidance of orchestra players. In addition, a forum and a lecture series will be organised to lead members of the public to explore the latest archaeological discoveries of the Shang dynasty in Henan Province and the world of ancient Chinese bronzes.
      
     This exhibition is jointly presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Henan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage, jointly organised by the HKMH and the Henan Museum, and solely sponsored by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.

          

     A man who went missing in Sheung Shui has been located.

     Ku Chun-yiu, aged 61, went missing after he left Tsung Pak Long on February 10. His family made a report to Police on February 12.

     The man was located this afternoon (March 20). He sustained no injuries and no suspicious circumstances were detected.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     Regarding the announcement yesterday (March 19) on a cluster of patients infected with Human Metapneumovirus in a male adult psychiatric ward, the spokesperson for Castle Peak Hospital made the following update today (March 20):
 
     Two more patients (aged 52 and 59) in the ward have presented with respiratory symptoms. Appropriate viral tests had been arranged for the patients and their test results were positive for Human Metapneumovirus. The patients concerned are being treated in isolation and are in stable condition.
 
     Admission to the ward has been suspended and restricted visiting has been imposed. Infection control measures have already been stepped up according to established guidelines. All other patients in the ward are under close surveillance.
 
     The cases have been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office and the Centre for Health Protection for necessary follow-up.

     Forty-three persons in custody (PICs) at Lo Wu Correctional Institution (LWCI) of the Correctional Services Department (CSD) were presented with certificates at a ceremony today (March 20) in recognition of their continuous efforts in pursuing further studies.

     In 2023, a total of 93 PICs at LWCI passed 162 papers with 78 distinctions and credits in various courses and public examinations covering different subjects including language and literature, English language, business finance, economics, marketing and psychology, organised by the Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU), the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Caritas Institute of Community Education. The 43 PICs who were awarded certificates today passed 73 papers with 34 distinctions and credits. Among them, one PIC was awarded a Bachelor's Degree in Social Sciences and one was awarded an Associate Degree in Business Administration by the HKMU.

     Officiating at the ceremony, the Chairman of Tung Sin Tan (TST), Mr Ha Tak-kin, said that TST has been highly supportive of the rehabilitation work of the CSD. TST set up the Tung Sin Education Fund in 2016 to provide an education subsidy to financially needy PICs, and to promote continuous education of PICs so as to prepare themselves for reintegration into society.

     The ceremony featured a music and dance drama performed by PICs. In addition, nine PICs turned into fashion models and wore the cheongsams they made in a fashion show to showcase their training achievements in a workshop on Chinese cheongsam history and production techniques organised by the Cultural Inheritance and Development Foundation.

     In a sharing session, a PIC from a single-parent family shared her experiences in the course of rehabilitation. Reflecting on the heavy price she has paid for committing crime, the PIC decided to resume her studies and developed her interest in painting by participating in a design competition oragnised by the institution, thereby finding her direction in life. At last, she thanked her grandparents for their unwavering support which has reinforced her determination to rehabilitate, and her hopes to take care of them after release.

     LWCI is a medium security institution for female adult convicted PICs, female adult remand PICs and female adult drug addicts undergoing treatment programmes under the Drug Addiction Treatment Centres Ordinance.

        

     Following is a question by the Hon Tang Ka-piu and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Health, Dr Libby Lee, in the Legislative Council today (March 20):
 
Question:
 
     There are views pointing out that public general outpatient clinics (GOPCs) providing evening consultation services generally cease their services at 10 pm. If members of the public need to seek medical consultation late at night, they can only go to the accident and emergency departments (AEDs) of public hospitals apart from a small number of private healthcare institutions operating late at night or overnight, resulting in long waiting time at AEDs. In addition, it has been reported that incidents in which non-urgent patients died while waiting for medical consultation at the AEDs of the public hospitals have occurred in recent years. Regarding the services of the AEDs of public hospitals, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
 
(1) the patients' average waiting time for medical consultation at AEDs during the period after the cessation of evening services of GOPCs (i.e. 10 pm to 9 am the following day) in 2018 and 2023, together with a breakdown by patient category (i.e. critical, emergency, urgent, semi-urgent and non-urgent);
 
(2) the numbers of patients who were admitted to hospitals for observation after being diagnosed at AEDs in 2018 and 2023 and, among them, the number of cases requiring the performance of operations in the short term, together with a breakdown by patient category (i.e. critical, emergency, urgent, semi-urgent and non-‍urgent);
 
(3) the numbers of cases in which after triage at AEDs, the conditions of patients worsened or patients died as a result of delay in treatment while they waited for medical consultation at AEDs, and the numbers of relevant complaints received by the Government, in 2018 and 2023;
 
(4) the following information on each GOPC providing evening consultation services in 2018 and 2023: (i) the average daily quota for evening consultation services, (ii) the average daily attendance for evening consultation services, and (iii) the average daily utilisation rate of the quota for evening consultation services (set out in the table below); whether the Hospital Authority has considered increasing the quota for evening consultation services and the number of clinics providing evening consultation services, so as to facilitate members of the public to seek medical consultation at night and reduce the burden on AEDs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
 

 
(5) the supply of evening consultation services by private healthcare institutions in various districts in the past year, with a breakdown by District Council district and service period (i.e. (i) before midnight or late at night, and (ii) overnight); whether the Government has considered launching measures to encourage more private healthcare institutions to introduce evening, late-night or overnight consultation services, and help and encourage the diversion of members of the public with a need to seek medical consultation at night to private healthcare institutions, so as to reduce the burden on AEDs?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     In consultation with the Hospital Authority (HA), the reply to the various parts of the question raised by Hon Tang Ka-piu is as follows:
 
(1) – (3) At present, there are 18 public hospitals under the HA providing Accident and Emergency (A&E) services for critically ill or seriously injured people and victims of disasters. To ensure that citizens with urgent needs can receive timely services, A&E departments implement a patient triage system under which patients are classified into five categories, namely Critical, Emergency, Urgent, Semi-urgent and Non-urgent based on their clinical conditions, and will receive treatment as prioritised by their urgency category. The HA's service targets specify that all Critical patients (i.e. 100 per cent) will receive immediate treatment, and Emergency and Urgent patients will be prioritised for treatment upon arrival at A&E departments, with the targets being that most Emergency (95 per cent) and Urgent (90 per cent) patients will be treated within 15 or 30 minutes respectively. A&E departments are not General Out-patient Clinics (GOPCs). If there are a large number of Semi-urgent or Non-urgent patients in A&E departments, it may affect the provision of treatment for Emergency and Urgent patients.
 
     The number of HA A&E attendances by triage categories and timeslots, the average waiting time for each triage category, the number of hospital admissions through A&E and the number of such admissions who underwent surgery in operating theatres within 24 hours of admission in 2018 and 2023 are set out in Annex 1. Patients triaged as Critical, Emergency and Urgent are handled immediately and with priority according to the HA's service targets. If the conditions of patients triaged as Semi-urgent and Non-urgent worsen while waiting, healthcare staff on site will assess whether the patients' triage category needs to be adjusted depending on the situation. The HA does not maintain statistics on the number of complaints related to delay in treatment or death while waiting for A&E services.
 
     Over the past ten years, the number of Critical, Emergency and Urgent cases in A&E departments increased from a monthly average of about 61 000 cases in 2014 to a monthly average of about 68 000 cases in 2018, and even reached a monthly average of approximately 73 000 cases in 2023. As for patients classified as Semi-urgent or Non-urgent, their conditions are generally stable and not life-threatening, such as infection with stable episodic illnesses like influenza or gastro-intestinal discomfort. Most of these patients can be treated by GOPCs, private doctors or private hospitals. Semi-urgent and Non-urgent cases have accounted for 55 per cent to 65 per cent of the total cases in the past ten years, inevitably crowding Critical, Emergency and Urgent cases out of receiving treatment with A&E resources. In fact, since A&E departments provide emergency medical services to patients with more urgent conditions, if A&E departments receive patients with more critical conditions, they will have to deploy healthcare staff to rescue the more critical patients and patients classified as Semi-urgent or Non-urgent will need to wait for a longer period of time.
 
(4) 74 GOPCs under the HA provide non-emergency out-patient services of over five million attendances each year. GOPCs are mainly positioned to serve low-income persons and socially disadvantaged groups with priority, chronic disease patients with stable medical conditions and patients of episodic illnesses with relatively mild symptoms. To cope with the increasing service demand, the HA has all along been committed to strengthening the service capacity of GOPCs, including evening out-patient services. At present, there are 23 GOPCs providing evening out-patient services. The relevant service utilisation figures are set out in Annex 2.
 
     Generally speaking, the operation of an out-patient clinic needs to be supported by the teamwork among doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dispensers, patient service assistants, clerical staff and supporting staff, etc, while other members of the allied health profession may also be involved. To optimise the mobilisation of the GOPC resources and in view of the current manpower resources situation, clinics in the same district complement one another for better synergy. It is therefore more cost-effective to increase the consultation quotas in those clinics which are already providing evening service now. The HA is aware of the keen service demand of the public for public primary healthcare services, and will continue active recruitment efforts with a view to further enhancing the service capacity of GOPCs (including evening clinics) as manpower situation permits.
 
(5) To allow A&E departments of public hospitals to focus on handling emergency and urgent cases, the Government and the HA have been encouraging patients with milder conditions to use more primary healthcare and family doctors' services in the community, so as to effectively alleviate the pressure on public A&E services.
 
     In fact, the primary healthcare needs of the majority of citizens are currently taken care of by the private healthcare sector with annual out-patient attendances of about 20 million. The Primary Healthcare Office (PHO) and the District Health Centres (DHCs) have been actively encouraging private hospitals, private healthcare institutions and private doctors in the local networks to provide consultation services during evenings and holidays.
 
     At present, most private hospitals have been providing round-the-clock services. The information maintained by the Government at the moment on the service hours of out-patient and A&E services of licensed private hospitals under the Private Healthcare Facilities Ordinance (Cap. 633) is set out in Annex 3. Meanwhile, the public can access the practice details of primary healthcare providers via the Primary Care Directory (the Directory) (website: www.pcdirectory.gov.hk) based on their personal needs. Such information includes the service hours (e.g. whether evening services are provided) and the scope of services provided. As of March 12, 2024, 3 808 doctors, 402 dentists and 2 343 Chinese medicine practitioners are listed in the Directory. Among them, 1 084 medical practice premises, 156 dental practice premises and 1 047 Chinese medicine practice premises provide services during the timeslot from 6pm to midnight (the above service providers may provide services at multiple practice premises). In addition, A&E departments of public hospitals also provide information on the private healthcare institutions and family doctors providing services across 18 districts of Hong Kong during holidays for the public's reference, so that they may identify suitable hospitals or clinics for consultation if necessary.
 
     On the other hand, the HA implemented a series of special measures to cope with the service surge during and after the Lunar New Year holiday this year, including increasing the number of operating GOPCs and service quotas, implementing a special refund arrangement in A&E departments and enhancing services of the 18 Chinese Medicine Clinics cum Training and Research Centres to provide government-subsidised Chinese Medicine out-patient services. The special refund arrangement in A&E departments allowed patients who had not attended a consultation within 24 hours after registration to request a refund of the $180 A&E fee. The refund would be made within one month as far as possible. This measure provided patients with stable and less severe conditions with more flexibility in choosing alternative consultation arrangements, such as seeking consultation at other private healthcare institutions, with a view to diverting patients and alleviating the pressure on A&E departments, enabling A&E departments to focus resources on taking care of patients in need.
 
     In addition, to minimise the impact of service demand surge on the public healthcare system, the Health Bureau also collated information of private hospitals, healthcare facilities, family doctors and Chinese medicine clinics which operated during the Lunar New Year holiday across 18 districts of Hong Kong, and collaborated with the Spatial Data Office of the Development Bureau and the Lands Department on uploading the information of relevant hospitals and clinics (including addresses, phone numbers and service hours) to an online portal for public's reference. Such a move aims to enable citizens in need to identify suitable hospitals or clinics for medical treatment.
 
     The Government and the HA will continue to review the effectiveness of the measures from time to time and introduce more measures as necessary to alleviate the pressure on public A&E services.