The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, will depart for Geneva, Switzerland, today (May 19) to attend the 76th World Health Assembly (WHA) of the World Health Organization (WHO).

     Professor Lo will attend the 76th WHA on May 21 (Geneva time) as a member of the Chinese delegation. The theme of this year’s Assembly is “WHO at 75: Saving lives, driving health for all”. The key discussions will cover the review of the WHO’s work in health emergencies, including the International Health Regulations and strengthening WHO preparedness for and response to health emergencies. A wide range of strategies and global actions on areas such as universal health coverage, primary healthcare, traditional medicine, infection prevention and control, substandard and falsified medicines, non-communicable diseases and mental health will also be discussed at the Assembly.

     Professor Lo will take the opportunity to exchange views on healthcare-related issues with senior officials of the WHO and other delegations.

     The Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam, will accompany Professor Lo to attend the WHA in Geneva. They will return to Hong Kong on May 24. During Professor Lo’s absence, the Under Secretary for Health, Dr Libby Lee, will be the Acting Secretary for Health.

     The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, visited Kwai Tsing District Health Centre (DHC) at Kowloon Commerce Centre in Kwai Chung and Yau Tsim Mong DHC Express at Pioneer Centre in Prince Edward this afternoon (April 4) so as to get a better grasp of the operations of the DHC and DHC Express and how the centres are working to tie in with the way forward set out in the Primary Healthcare Blueprint.
 
     Accompanied by the Commissioner for Primary Healthcare, Dr Pang Fei-chau, Professor Lo and the Under Secretary for Health, Dr Libby Lee, toured the two centres and received briefings by centre staff on primary healthcare services offered to citizens, including health promotion activities, health risk factors assessment, community rehabilitation support, and referral arrangement for members-in-need to receive follow-up services from district network healthcare professionals. Representatives of the operators of Kwai Tsing DHC and Yau Tsim Mong DHC Express, namely Vice-chairman of Kwai Tsing Safe Community and Healthy City Association Mr Ho Siu-ping, and the Chairman of the Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society, Kowloon, Mr Lee Shing-kan, were present to introduce their respective centres.
 
     Professor Lo pointed out that the Government positioned the DHCs and DHC Expresses as community resource hubs as stated in the Primary Healthcare Blueprint released last year. The DHCs and DHC Expresses are responsible for co-ordinating various healthcare professions and primary healthcare services in the district, promoting the concept of “family doctor for all” in collaboration with the private medical sector, as well as encouraging members of the public to establish a long-term doctor-patient relationship with their family doctor through a cross-professional public-private partnership model and targeted subsidies under the Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot (CDCC) Scheme, such that the public can enjoy coherent and comprehensive healthcare services.
 
     Anticipating the launch of the CDCC Scheme later this year, Kwai Tsing DHC has started to promote the concept of “family doctor for all” actively in the district, with a view to getting prepared for matching citizens with suitable family doctors in the coming future. The DHC delivers services based on the concept of lifelong preventive care, i.e. through various activities to help people understand that they should always manage their own health regardless of the stages of life they are going through, such as building a healthy lifestyle, receiving appropriate vaccinations at different ages, undergoing screening for chronic diseases, so that disease prevention can be conducted in the manner of early detection and intervention.
 
     Moreover, as a district health resources centre, Yau Tsim Mong DHC Express has plenty of experience in collaborating with community clinics and pharmacies to provide more comprehensive and continuous care for citizens. The experience will serve as valuable reference for other DHCs and DHC Expresses in carrying out related work in future.
 
     Dr Pang supplemented that as a key component of the community primary healthcare system, the DHCs and DHC Expresses will strengthen their role as a co-ordinator with focuses on district-based, family-centric services. That would include enhancing co-ordination of community healthcare services, supporting primary healthcare doctors in the mode of case manager, providing district healthcare services, establishing network among public and private healthcare services, and providing health preventive and social services.
 
     Professor Lo said that the Government is committed to putting more resources in fostering primary healthcare in a bid to improve citizens’ health. He appealed to citizens to make good use of the services offered by the DHCs and jointly build a “Healthy Hong Kong”.

     The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, visited Prince of Wales Hospital today (January 16) to get a grasp of the situation of the public hospital service during the winter surge, and to show support for frontline healthcare staff.
 
     Accompanied by the Cluster Chief Executive of New Territories East Cluster of the Hospital Authority (HA), Dr Chung Kin-lai, Professor Lo and the Under Secretary for Health, Dr Libby Lee, visited the Medical Specialist Outpatient Clinic, the Pharmacy of the Specialist Outpatient Clinics and a medical ward. They knew from the hospital management and frontline healthcare staff about the actions being taken by public hospital in response to the demand for healthcare services arising from winter surge and relevant manpower arrangement. Professor Lo expressed gratitude to healthcare staff for standing fast at their posts even in difficult times and serving patients with professionalism and selflessness.
 
     Professor Lo said, “The recent epidemic situation has shown signs of decline. However, given the more frequent activities of festival shopping and gathering due to the earlier relaxation of social distancing measures and the approaching of the Lunar New Year, as well as the persistent risk of infection on top of the fact that winter has always been a peak season for influenza and other respiratory illnesses, members of the public should remain vigilant by wearing a mask properly, observing good personal hygiene and taking precautionary measures well.
 
     “Maintaining the normal operation of Hong Kong’s healthcare system tops the agenda of the Government. The Government has all along been keeping close communication with the HA, and allocating manpower and resources with regard to the needs for healthcare services. The Government and the HA will continue to strengthen the emergency response mechanism, enhance the handling capacities of the healthcare system, in a bid to ensure that Hong Kong residents will be accorded priority in receiving medical services and drugs when they have a need.”
 
     Professor Lo once again appealed to members of the public, in particular the elderly and children, to receive seasonal influenza and COVID-19 vaccines, while maintaining good personal hygiene for protection to themselves and others. He firmly believes that with the concerted effort of the general public, Hong Kong can make steady strides along the path to normalcy.

     The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, visited Queen Mary Hospital today (January 13) to get a grasp of the operation of public hospitals during the winter service surge, and expressed his gratitude to frontline healthcare staff for their continuous efforts and contributions.

     Accompanied by the Cluster Chief Executive of Hong Kong West Cluster of the Hospital Authority (HA), Dr Theresa Li, Professor Lo and the Under Secretary for Health, Dr Libby Lee, visited the isolation ward, the medicine cohort cubicle and the angiography suite. They received a briefing by the hospital management and frontline healthcare staff on the current service situation and manpower arrangement at the hospital in response to the dual challenges posed by COVID-19 and the winter influenza.

     Professor Lo said, “The numbers of elderly patients and patients with chronic diseases have been increasing in winter. As the Lunar New Year holiday is approaching, residents will have gatherings more frequently, which will inevitably increase their risk of contracting COVID-19 or influenza. As such, public hospitals are expected to stay under immense pressure. With the orderly resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland, the Government and the HA will continue to closely monitor the provision of healthcare services, and will deploy manpower, hospital beds and resources in a timely and flexible manner to ensure that the healthcare system can operate as usual during the winter service surge period.”

     Professor Lo also took the opportunity today to communicate with frontline healthcare staff to learn about their difficulties during the service surge period and listen to their opinions.

     Regarding the recent criminal prosecution of HA employees in relation to making a mistake when diagnosing and treating a patient, Professor Lo said: “As the Secretary for Health and a frontline surgeon, I am saddened by the criminal prosecution of the two doctors for making a mistake in diagnosing and treating a patient. The frontline healthcare staff are all upholding the ‘first, do no harm’ of the Hippocratic Oath, and treat patients faithfully. The senior management of the HA and I are very concerned about the incident, in particular the situation of the two colleagues and the feelings of all the staff. I also learned about and discussed with the management of the Head Office yesterday (January 12) on the support provided by the HA to the two colleagues. I fully understand the concerns and worries of frontline doctors on the incident. Doctors in public healthcare sector (including the HA and the Department of Health) or private medical institutions may be worried that they will unwittingly violate the law in daily diagnosis, which will affect the efficiency of the overall healthcare services and their professional development. As the Secretary for Health, together with the management of the HA, we will do our best to ensure healthcare staff can continue to provide professional diagnosis and treatment in a safe system and environment.”

     He also expressed his gratitude to frontline healthcare staff for always maintaining a high level of professionalism in difficult times, as well as standing fast at their posts, taking care of patients with heart, and safeguarding Hong Kong’s healthcare system at all time.

      “I firmly believe that my fellow doctors will continue to maintain a high level of professionalism as usual, and faithfully perform the solemn duty of doctors to save lives. The quality of doctors and medical standards in Hong Kong have been highly recognised and regarded internationally. My fellow doctors will work together to protect our hard-earned professionalism.”

     The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, met with representatives of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, statutory boards and councils of various healthcare professions, as well as healthcare professional bodies accredited under the Accredited Registers Scheme for Healthcare Professions today (December 13), exchanging views on the various healthcare-related policy initiatives in The Chief Executive’s 2022 Policy Address. Representatives of the Hospital Authority and the Department of Health also attended the meeting.
      
     At the meeting, Professor Lo briefed the representatives of the healthcare professional bodies on the healthcare-related policy initiatives set out in the Policy Address, covering eight policy areas which include primary healthcare, public hospital services, healthcare manpower supply, development of Chinese medicine, mental health, tobacco control, healthcare co-operation with the Mainland, as well as prevention and control of the epidemic. He also took the opportunity to listen to the views of the sector on the relevant initiatives.
      
     Professor Lo said, “The current healthcare system relies more on treatment than prevention, with resources skewed heavily towards, and huge pressure exerted on, public hospitals. With an ageing population and increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, public hospitals will be overburdened.
      
     “In order to ensure that sufficient healthcare manpower is available to deliver various healthcare services to members of the public, the Government must revamp the healthcare system and promote primary healthcare apart from increasing the supply of manpower and strengthening the training for healthcare professionals. The Primary Healthcare Blueprint to be launched this year will set the way forward for the provision of comprehensive, sustainable and people-centric primary healthcare services in the community. Among all, on top of the District Health Centres which will serve as the hub for co-ordinating primary healthcare services for citizens, we will also enhance the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme and better utilise multi-disciplinary healthcare services, etc.
      
      “I would like to express gratitude to the representatives of the healthcare professional bodies for their valuable advice in relation to the healthcare-related policy initiatives in the Policy Address. The Government will continue to work hand in hand with the relevant stakeholders to provide highly effective and quality healthcare services to citizens, with a view to building a healthy and vibrant Hong Kong.”