Month: February 2026

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Secretary for Health Prof Lo Chung-mau today met members of the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) for in-depth exchanges of views on the amendment to the Medical Registration Ordinance.

As a statutory body established under the ordinance, the MCHK regulates the medical profession in accordance with the powers conferred by legislation, including handling the registration of medical practitioners, overseeing the Licensing Examination, formulating professional codes and guidelines, and conducting disciplinary inquiries into complaints involving professional misconduct of medical practitioners. 

To ensure that the legislation for healthcare professions keeps pace with the times and meets societal needs and the public interest, the Government needs to review the ordinance from time to time and propose amendments as necessary, with a view to enabling the MCHK to discharge its statutory functions more effectively, including its function in handling complaints.

Prof Lo noted that the MCHK has been continuously adjusting and enhancing its work in response to new trends in healthcare development in recent years. These include issuing ethical guidelines on providing services to patients through telemedicine by doctors to meet societal needs, and fully supporting the Government’s policy to admit non-locally trained doctors by establishing the Special Registration Committee to assess medical qualifications from different places. To date, a total of 150 medical qualifications from different places have been recognised.

The MCHK upholds the mission of ensuring justice, maintaining professionalism and protecting the public. Vested with independent quasi-judicial functions and powers to impose disciplinary sanctions through disciplinary proceedings on doctors whose professional standards or ethical conduct fall short of the required standards, the MCHK has a statutory responsibility and the powers to protect patients’ interests. 

The intent behind this legislative amendment to the ordinance is to enhance the efficiency of the MCHK’s complaint handling, while maintaining professionalism and fairness, and to enhance doctors’ professional standards.

Prof Lo said: “I am grateful to members of the MCHK for offering their valuable advice on further enhancing transparency and accountability in the work of the MCHK by drawing on their own experience participating in the work of the MCHK.”

He added that the Government will consider the views received holistically in finalising the legislative proposal, including clarifying various implementation details.

The Health Bureau noted that the MCHK recognised that handling complaints against doctors was crucial to safeguarding professional standards, and had been striving to address bottlenecks in the complaint handling process in recent years. 

In response to public concern last year about the MCHK’s investigation and disciplinary inquiry mechanism for handling complaints, the MCHK reviewed the mechanism earlier at the request of the Secretary for Health and submitted a report to the bureau on improving the mechanism’s operation to safeguard doctors’ professional standards.

Meanwhile, to ensure continuous enhancement of healthcare professional standards in support of Hong Kong’s determination to develop into an international health and medical innovation hub, the bureau announced earlier to amend the ordinance, having regard to the report’s recommendations and the operational needs of the MCHK, targeting to introduce a bill to the Legislative Council in the first half of this year.

The bureau consulted patient groups, the two local medical schools, the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, the Hong Kong Medical Association and various medical professional associations on the amendment to the ordinance last month.

It will brief LegCo’s Panel on Health Services shortly on the proposed directions and enhancement proposals for the ordinance.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     Following is a question by the Hon Joephy Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, in the Legislative Council today (February 4):
 
Question:
 
     It is learnt that quite a number of operators of public market stalls providing daily food and necessities for members of the public are facing the pressure of rent increases. Regarding the leasing and operation situation of shops in public markets under the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the respective numbers of stalls, occupancy rates of stalls and categories of let-out stalls, as well as the respective numbers and rates of vacant stalls, in the various markets under the HA and the FEHD in each of the past three years;
 
(2) of the rental adjustment arrangements for the various markets under the HA and the FEHD in each of the past three years;
 
(3) as there are views that tenants of markets under the HA and the FEHD are currently facing a very difficult operating environment, whether the Government has considered providing financial support measures, such as rent concessions, for such tenants; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
 
(4) whether the FEHD has considered making good use of vacant stalls in the markets under its purview by allowing online shops selling fresh and frozen food to provide self-pickup smart lockers, so that members of the public may collect their purchased items at markets outside working hours, thereby stimulating footfall in the markets; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
 
(5) given that the HA has implemented the Well Being·Start-Up programme to offer shop premises in shopping centres under its purview rent-free to young people aged 35 or below for start-up purposes, whether the FEHD has considered, by drawing reference from such programme, providing vacant “non-food” stalls rent-free as start-up points for young people who wish to start their businesses; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:
 
President,
 
     The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) is currently responsible for managing 95 public markets under its purview. In view of evolving consumption patterns of the general public and demand for public markets, the FEHD has, in recent years, implemented various measures to enhance the operating environmental and management of public markets. 
      
     Separately, the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) provides, in addition to affordable rental housing for low-income families with housing needs, ancillary facilities such as markets, as appropriate, to meet residents’ daily needs. At present, there are a total of 33 markets under the HKHA’s purview, offering residents with appropriate shopping options through flexible leasing arrangements and ongoing review of the trade mix. 
     As for the rent adjustments for market shopstalls under the HKHA, upon expiry of shopstall tenancy agreements, the HKHA assesses the renewal rents on a case-by-case basis according to the prevailing market value of the shopstall concerned, taking into account the rental status of other comparable lettings under the HKHA as well as the private property market; and relevant factors which would affect rental values such as the business environment of the trades, the location, as well as the size and the pedestrian flow of the shopstall concerned, etc. As for certain sectors which are facing greater challenges under the current economic climate, the HKHA will pragmatically take into account their actual operating conditions and may consider rent reduction to help alleviate their operational pressure when assessing rents for these trades. Given that the extent of rent adjustments upon renewal across different types of shopstalls varies due to the above factors, it cannot be generalised.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     Following is a question by the Hon Maggie Chan and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (February 4):

Question: 
President,
 
     The Government implements a variety of measures to provide subsidised community care and support services for elderly persons in need, including day care services for the elderly, home care and support services, and the Community Care Service Voucher Scheme for the Elderly. At the same time, as carers play an important role in supporting elderly persons and persons with disabilities living in the community, the Government has spared no effort to strengthen support for carers of elderly persons and carers of persons with disabilities so as to alleviate their physical and mental stress, and enable care recipients to be looked after in a more comprehensive manner.
 
     I will now elaborate on the relevant policy measures, and provide a consolidated response to various parts of the question raised by the Hon Maggie Chan.
 
District Services and Community Care Teams – Scheme on Supporting Elderly and Carers
 
     With a view to identifying households of singleton and doubleton elderly persons, carers of elderly persons and carers of persons with disabilities in need, the Government launched the District Services and Community Care Teams – Scheme on Supporting Elderly and Carers (the Scheme) in March 2024 on a pilot basis in Tsuen Wan and Southern District, and extended the Scheme to all 18 districts of Hong Kong in April 2025. As at end-December 2025, more than 450 Care Teams across the territory had visited or contacted under the Scheme over 79 000 households of singleton and doubleton elderly persons, carers of elderly persons and carers of persons with disabilities in need, provided them with care and support, and made service referrals. Among these households, more than 2 700 of them successfully received subsidies for installation and service of the emergency alarm system (EAS).

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

Following is a question by Reverend Canon the Hon Peter Douglas Koon and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (February 4):
 
Question:

It is learnt that the number of foster families has continued to decrease in recent years, making it difficult to find matches for children in need. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether it will consider reviewing the substitute mechanism for foster families, including not deducting allowances during reasonable substitute periods and establishing district-based substitute support networks, such as setting up a “partner family” mechanism to enable foster families to assist each other in providing short-term care for foster children when necessary; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
 
(2) whether it will consider formulating an inflation-linked foster care allowance for maintenance of foster children’s expenses and an incentive payment for foster families, and increasing these amounts to cover foster children’s reasonable expenses on learning and development activities (e.g. tutorial fees), as well as recognising the selfless contributions of foster parents; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
 
(3) as there are views that community recognition for foster families is insufficient, whether, in order to commend the contributions of foster families and promote the building of a foster family-friendly society, the Government will encourage the business sector to launch a “Foster-Friendly Card” to provide foster parents with concessions on transport, shopping, and arts, cultural, leisure and recreational services, etc.; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
Residential Child Care Services subsidised by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) can be categorised into institutional and non-institutional services, which provide 24-hour free-of-charge transitional residential care and protection for children and young persons who temporarily cannot be adequately cared for by their families due to various reasons. Foster care is a type of non-institutional service for children under the age of 18 who cannot be adequately cared for by their families due to various family issues or emergencies, so that they can continue to enjoy family life until they can reunite with their families or a long-term alternative welfare arrangement is reached.

The consolidated reply to the three parts of the question raised by the Reverend Canon the Hon Peter Douglas Koon is as follows:

To ensure children in need receive appropriate care and to encourage suitable families to join foster care service, the SWD regularly disburses allowances and incentive payment to foster parents, including Maintenance Grant for Foster Children and Incentive Payment for Foster Parents. At the same time, an additional incentive payment is also provided to foster families taking care of children with special needs or children under six years old. Furthermore, when a child is placed in a foster family, the foster parents will receive a one-off setting-up grant. These allowances and payments are adjusted annually according to the Composite Consumer Price Index.

Maintenance Grant for Foster Children is provided for foster parents to cover the foster children’s monthly living expenses, including food and daily necessities. According to the existing mechanism, if a foster child is arranged by the responsible caseworker to temporarily leave the foster home for home leave, the Incentive Payment for Foster Parentsand the additional incentive payment will continue to be disbursed to the foster parents without deduction, while the Maintenance Grant for Foster Children will be deducted according to the number of days the child is temporarily away from the foster home.
 
If foster parents need to take leave for various reasons and cannot take care of their foster child, the foster child will be arranged to receive care service at another foster home. During the relief care arrangement period, foster care allowance will be disbursed to the foster family providing relief care to the foster child concerned until the foster child returns to the original foster family.

To improve the arrangement of relief care, the SWD launched a “one-plus-one” recruitment scheme in January 2024 to encourage members of the public who are interested in providing foster care services to submit applications together with their relatives and friends for taking care of the same foster child, so that they can swiftly stand in for one another when one party is temporarily unable to provide care. The “one-plus-one” scheme facilitates mutual support between the shared households and also saves the need for a foster child to be arranged to stay in an unfamiliar living environment.
 
To further strengthen support for foster care services, the Government has implemented a series of enhancement measures recent years, including substantially increasing the incentive payment for foster parents starting from April 2024 to encourage interested parties to become foster families. The monthly incentive payment of ordinary foster care service has been increased more than double from around $5,000 to about $11,000; and that for emergency foster care service has been doubled from around $6,600 to about $13,000. In the past three years, the number of registered foster families increased from 978 in 2023-24 to 1 112 in 2025-26 (as at end-2025), representing an increase of about 14 per cent.
 
Moreover, starting from January 2025, the Government has allocated additional resources to strengthen support to foster parents and enhance service quality, including increasing manpower of social workers in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), providing training and professional support for foster parents, providing extra support for foster children with special learning or care needs and arranging early assessments and appropriate professional rehabilitation therapy and training for them. Additional allowances are also provided for foster children to cover the expenses for extra-curricular activities, tuition classes and interest classes, etc., thereby meeting their learning and developmental needs.
 
In order to recognise the contributions of foster families and promote the building of a foster-friendly society, the SWD annually holds parent-child activities for foster families which provide an opportunity for foster children to express their gratitude to the foster parents. Besides, the SWD regularly holds the Foster Families Service Award Presentation Ceremony to present awards to foster families to give recognition to their care and outstanding contributions to foster children, and at the same time call on more people to join the service with a view to bringing love and care for more children in need. In addition, the SWD has been collaborating with NGOs that provide foster care services to promote foster care through various channels and media, including inviting foster parents to share their experiences of caring for foster children on media platforms so as to recognise their dedication and contribution and raise public awareness of foster care services.
 
The SWD will continue to review the utilisation of foster care services and will maintain communication with NGOs providing foster care services to ensure that foster care services can meet the needs of foster children and safeguard their well-being.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     Following is a question by the Hon Ginny Man and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, in the Legislative Council today (February 4):
      
Question:

     The Education Bureau (EDB) announced in December 2025 the launch of the AI for Empowering Learning and Teaching Funding Programme (the Funding Programme) to support primary and secondary schools in utilising artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance learning and teaching effectiveness. Successful school applicants will receive one-off funding of $500,000 to purchase/subscribe to/lease AI-powered devices/services that facilitate AI-assisted teaching, and to subsidise students’ participation in activities that enhance their AI literacy and skills. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:      
President,

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region