Secretary, FPI chaired a roundtable interaction with Resident Commissioners on Thursday 8th December 2022 at 11:00 AM. The agenda of the roundtable was to apprise the Ministry’s plan of action for the proposed Mega Food Event to States / UTs and discuss possible areas of collaborations.
During the keynote address, Secretary, FPI informed the RCs that the mega event would be organized in October 2023 and is being envisaged on a much larger scale than the event earlier organised by the Ministry. This event would be providing a platform for the States and UTs to showcase State / UT-specific opportunities, interact with global and domestic business leaders, suppliers, purchasers, and technology providers for collaborations, and generate investment & sourcing interests across the value chain of food processing and food retail sectors.
All States / UTs were requested to share feedback / suggestions to make the event a grand success. They were also requested to participate actively in the event, as well as support the Ministry in creating awareness, ensuring participation of senior policy makers, agri-food companies, FPOs / SHGs and all relevant stakeholders in the mega food event.
The participants were also informed that as part of ‘International Year of Millets’, a series of activities are being planned by the Ministry to create awareness about the many benefits of millets and millet based value-added products.
All participating RCs assured support to MoFPI in activities planned throughout the year 2023 and during the Mega Food Event 2023. Some of the suggestions / feedback included requirements of focused campaigning of the mega food event as well as benefits of millets domestically & in international expos, organising district level summits in addition to planned summits and expos in State Capitals which would help in onboarding micro entrepreneurs, FPOs, SHGs; showcasing of traditional aspects, possible association with tourism industry for promotion of the mega event etc.
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The Investment Facilitation Cell (Invest India) was advised to coordinate with the States and UTs for implementing the identified plan of action and ensuring necessary support to enable active participation of States / UTs.
Secretary, FPI urged all States and UTs to engage with the Ministry for showcasing the strength of Indian food processing sector as well as actively participate in to avail the maximum benefits of the mega event.
The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, visited United Christian Hospital, Caritas Medical Centre and Prince of Wales Hospital today (December 7) to get a better grasp of the contingency measures put in place by public hospitals in response to COVID-19 and the winter service surge. He also expressed his gratitude to the frontline healthcare staff for their efforts and contributions.
Accompanied by the Chairman of the Hospital Authority (HA), Mr Henry Fan, and the Chief Executive of the HA, Dr Tony Ko, Professor Lo and the Under Secretary for Health, Dr Libby Lee, inspected the accident and emergency (A&E) departments and wards of the hospitals, and learned from healthcare staff the contingency measures being taken in public hospitals in response to the service surge.
Professor Lo said, “As winter approaches, public hospitals are facing dual challenges from COVID-19 and winter influenza simultaneously. The HA anticipates that the service demand for A&E departments and inpatient services will continue to rise. To ensure the timely handling of emergency cases of serious illness and minimise the impact on non-emergency service, the HA has formulated contingency plans in tandem with each hospital cluster and reserved sufficient resources to open temporary beds and make manpower arrangements when necessary, in order to enhance services for patients during the surge.
“In addition, I entrusted the HA to strengthen its role of gate-keeping and co-operate with residential care homes to reduce cases of unnecessary hospital admissions, as well as to keep up with its enhancement of collaboration with private hospitals by transferring suitable patients to the private hospitals to continue their treatment thereat. All these aim to reduce the burden on the public healthcare system.
“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all healthcare staff for their efforts in ensuring the sustainable operation of Hong Kong’s healthcare system at this critical juncture, and continue to maintain a high degree of professionalism in safeguarding public health at all times.”
Professor Lo once again appealed to members of the public to receive seasonal influenza and COVID-19 vaccines as early as possible and maintain good personal protection. At the same time, non-urgent patients should avoid using A&E departments, so that public hospitals can devote their resources to treating patients in need in a more effective manner.
The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, together with the Under Secretary for Health, Dr Libby Lee, met with the representatives of the medical sector today (December 6), introducing to them the various healthcare-related policy initiatives in “The Chief Executive’s 2022 Policy Address” and listening to their views.
At the meeting, Professor Lo briefed the representatives of the medical sector on the initiatives of the eight healthcare policy areas put forward by the new term of the Government in the Policy Address. The eight policy areas 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.
Professor Lo said, “The provision of healthcare services is an important pillar of people’s livelihood. With the ageing population in Hong Kong and increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, there is a growing demand from citizens for public healthcare services which will eventually overburden the public hospitals. The Government must revamp the healthcare system and promote primary healthcare. In this regard, we will launch the Primary Healthcare Blueprint within this year to provide comprehensive, sustainable and people-centric primary healthcare services in the community.
“The Government will continue to enhance public healthcare services and ensure sufficient healthcare manpower is available to deliver various healthcare services to members of the public, such that people with illnesses can receive proper treatment. We will put forth targeted measures to strengthen or even increase the supply of healthcare manpower and enhance the training for healthcare professionals, with a view to ensuring the sustainable and effective functioning of the public healthcare system.
“I would like to express gratitude to the representatives of the medical sector for their valuable advice in relation to the healthcare-related policy initiatives in the Policy Address. The Government will continue to maintain close liaison with relevant stakeholders and take forward various policy initiatives, so as to make highly effective and quality healthcare services accessible to the citizens.”
In line with the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision to improve the Human Resource Management practices in the Government through “Mission Karmayogi”, Cabinet Secretary, Shri Rajiv Gauba interacted with Secretaries of all Ministries/Departments on creation of Annual Capacity Building Plans of each Ministry/Department, during a workshop organised by the Capacity Building Commission (CBC) at Vigyan Bhawan today. An Approach paper on Annual Capacity Building Plans prepared by CBC was also launched on the occasion.
At the launch of the Approach Paper for creation of Annual Capacity Building Plans for Ministries/Departments, Shri Rajiv Gauba, Cabinet Secretary appreciated the initiatives of CBC and said that, the basic idea of “Mission Karmayogi” is to fulfil the mandate of democratising knowledge across all verticals and levels. He mentioned that within a short span of time, with the help of the Commission, over 1 lakh personnel of M/o Railways and Police forces have been trained under Mission Karmayogi. Over 200 contractual personal staff of several Union Ministers have also been trained.
Shri Gauba stated that Ministries / Departments under GoI have made considerable progress to move closer towards the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister to focus on citizen centricity and national priorities. He appreciated various Ministries / Departments for taking up the initiative to start working on developing an Annual Capacity Building Plan.
Hailing efforts of various ministries and departments, Shri Gauba said that Ministries are doing a marvellous work in streamlining the functioning of the government through structured training and enhancing access to learning opportunities, optimising learning ecosystem and inculcating future-readiness from top to bottom level staff.
Shri Gauba echoed the words of the Hon’ble Prime Minister that there is a need to completely transform the government’s capacity building system. The Capacity Building Commission is moving along these lines and making positive impact for the Civil Service fraternity. He added that capacity building plans of the Ministries / Departments should enable officers to acquire overall competency in all spheres of their work. Shri Gauba stressed on the need to replicate best practices of one Ministry to other Ministries.
Shri Gauba also lauded the training module developed by Capacity Building Commission on ‘Stress Management’, calling it as an essential tool for the work force of Government. He favoured deep immersion method and suggested that it should be mainstreamed.
He emphasised the need for Annual Capacity-building plans (ACBPs) for all the Ministries, Departments, Organizations (MDOs) to overcome the challenges that India faced in the past. The Commission is mandated to facilitate the preparation of the Annual Capacity Building Plan for all Government of India Ministries, Departments and Organizations.
Secretaries of several Ministries made presentation on the occasion, enlisting their progress towards preparing Annual Capacity Building Plans for their respective Ministries.
The Under Secretary for Education, Mr Sze Chun-fai, toured the “Playtime with Children” Roving Exhibition held by the Education Bureau (EDB) today (August 21).
To promote the Positive Parent Campaign, the Roving Exhibition is being held by the EDB from June to August, with a view to enhancing parents’ understanding on how to develop quality time with their children and create happy childhood memories through parent-child play, so as to help children grow happily and healthily. Today’s exhibition was held at Sheung Shui Centre.
Mr Sze played the “Playtime with Children” board game with the visiting parents and children at the exhibition venue. He said, “Working parents need to cope with family and work commitments, and may not be able to spare time with their children often. That said, it’s crucial for parents to maintain good communication with their children in order to let them feel parents’ love and care. Hence, parents can allocate a specific play time with their children to create space for parent-child communication.”
The “Playtime with Children” exhibition panels contain significant content, sharing information with parents on subjects such as “Why to Play” and “How to Play”, as well as introducing various parent-child games. The Roving Exhibition also includes a video gallery and a Light Family photo booth corner. The “Playtime with Children” board game will also be distributed as a souvenir. The last exhibition will be held at the Trend Plaza on August 27 and 28. The activities are open from noon to 6pm. All activities in the venue are free of charge and souvenirs will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis.
In addition, Mr Sze encouraged parents and children to participate in the video production competition on parent education called “Light Up a Bright Future with Your Child” organised by the EDB. They can use videos to show how to establish a good parent-child relationship and also take the opportunity to share quality time together during the summer holiday.
The competition is divided into four groups, namely the Primary Group, the Secondary Group, the Parent-child Group and the Open Group. The Most Liked Award for each group will be selected through public voting in October this year. All those interested in participating in the competition can visit the activity website (www.parent.edu.hk/en/article/video_competition) for application and submission of entries by August 31.
The Positive Parent Campaign has all along been promoting positive parent education through extensive and diversified channels to foster parents’ positive thinking and the proper ways and attitudes of raising children. The objective is to foster a positive and optimistic mindset among parents in nurturing their children, with a view to helping their children learn effectively and grow happily. For information on the Positive Parent Campaign, please visit the EDB’s Smart Parent Net website (www.parent.edu.hk/en/home).
