Month: May 2026

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

The Hospital Authority (HA) Convention 2026 begins today for three consecutive days (May 11 to 13) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, in both in-person and online formats. More than 9 000 local, Mainland and overseas healthcare professionals and academics, together with approximately 200 distinguished speakers will exchange professional insights, clinical advances and experience on various healthcare topics, achieving record-high participation levels.
 
The HA Convention this year is focusing on the HA’s core values, namely People-centred Care, Professional Service, Committed Staff and Teamwork, with topics on healthcare development and sustainability, chronic disease management, cancer treatment, palliative care and advance directives. Other sessions will include topics on the application of artificial intelligence and robotics in healthcare, personalised medicine, medical training, advance care planning, medical-social collaboration and preparedness for major events, with the aim of promoting modernised healthcare service models and facilitating exploration and discussion of contemporary concepts among healthcare professionals and stakeholders.
 
The convention opening ceremony was officiated this morning by the Acting Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing; the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau; the HA Chairman, Mr Henry Fan; and the HA Chief Executive, Dr Libby Lee. The Deputy Director-General of the Office of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, Ms Li Wei, delivered a speech on behalf of Vice-Minister of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China Professor Zeng Yixin, congratulating the successful convening of the Convention.
 
In his welcome address, Mr Fan said that the HA has committed to maintain sustainability of public healthcare service through reform. Over the past year, the HA has made steadfast progress in taking forward numerous reform initiatives, with the successful implementation of public healthcare fees and charges reform from January 1, 2026 standing as a top priority. The reform has had far-reaching impact by rationalising resource allocation, reducing wastage and misuse, and enhancing support for patients.
 
     “Since the implementation of the public healthcare fees and charges reform, achievements had been made in utilisation of Accident and Emergency (A&E) services and in enhancing patient protection. There has been an overall decrease of about 10 per cent in attendances at the A&E departments, with a significant drop of 22 per cent in non-urgent cases, enabling A&E departments to focus their resources on patients with emergency needs. As of the end of April, the number of patients approved for fee waiver has significantly increased to over 224,000, which is 16 times the annual figure prior to the reform. The annual overall medical expense cap of HK$10,000 introduced by the HA has also received nearly 3 000 applications, demonstrating that the reform has effectively reallocated resources to comprehensively enhance protection for the ‘poor, acute, serious and critical’ patients.”
 
Mr Fan said that the HA has made significant progress in promoting “patient centric” services. Since the establishment of Task Groups on Enhancing Patient centric Services at each hospital in 2023, every hospital has introduced various initiatives that place patients at the centre of attention. These include the recently announced enhancement to visiting arrangements, under which visiting hours at all rehabilitation and palliative wards of non-acute wards have been extended to nine hours, while all paediatric wards are now open around-the-clock. Eligible patients may even have their pets visit them as well. In addition, the number of HA Go mobile app users has now reached over 3.5 million, enabling more patients and their carers to conveniently access public hospitals services and manage their personal health.
 
Mr Fan continued, “Apart from ‘patient centric’ services, the pursuit of service excellence lies at the very core of the HA. To date, four public hospitals have obtained national healthcare standards accreditation, and a total of seven acute hospitals are expected to complete accreditation by next year. The HA is also establishing chest pain centres and stroke centres in accordance with national accreditation standards at public hospitals, with Queen Mary Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital and Tuen Mun Hospital taking the lead, in a continuous effort to enhance professional standards and service quality.”
 
Delivering her keynote address at the opening ceremony, “Forging a New Era of Service Excellence in Public Healthcare”, Dr Lee shared her vision on realising service excellence and driving the sustainable development of public healthcare services. “In the face of rapid population ageing and an increasingly complex environment, the Five-Year Plan for 2026 to 2030 – Hong Kong’s first aligned with the National 15th Five-Year Plan – provides the HA with a clear strategic coherence. It marks a decisive shift in healthcare service, which is a shift from quantity to quality, and from reactive medicine to proactive health management.”
 
Dr Lee stated that the mission under this new era must evolve its focus from the mere pursuit of “clinical excellence” to the realisation of true “service excellence”, delivering the right care, at the right time, in the right place, grounded in empathy and sustained by efficiency. She added, “To achieve service excellence, we must redesign healthcare service model. Through three purpose-built pathways, services will be categorised into acute care, high-efficiency procedures, and community-based support, enabling greater seamless integration of healthcare service and ensuring that each patient’s needs are met with the right level of precision and support.”
 
Under the acute care pathway, the HA is scaling specialised centres across clusters to treat patients with acute and critical conditions, and strengthening the “Golden Hour” protocols at Chest Pain Centres and Stroke Centres. The newly established Neuroscience Centre will concentrate on managing complex neurological care, ensuring more consistent delivery of optimal care for patients.
 
Under the high-efficiency procedures pathway, the Central Dispensing Hubs are leveraging automation technology to manage high-volume medication packing, streamlining complicated medication dispensing workflows and enabling seamless delivery of medications directly to patients’ homes. This allows pharmacists to focus on high-value clinical consultations and patient care.
 
Under the community-based support pathway, the HA is redesigning service models and will collaborate with community partners to prioritise the expansion of community, ambulatory, and home-based support, ensuring seamless continuity of support upon patient discharge. This approach will both free up hospital capacity for acute patients and shorten waiting times for admissions and follow-up appointments.
 
Dr Lee described the HA as moving towards a new era of smart hospitals and digitalisation, necessitating investment in augmented intelligence to improve clinical outcomes. The HA has deployed AI-assisted diagnostics to support radiologists in detecting subtle abnormalities, predictive tools to identify and anticipate patients at risk of clinical deterioration, and surgical planning tools to optimise operating theatre utilisation.
 
In addition, through the integration of HA Go mobile app, Smart Hospital initiatives, and workflow reengineering, the patient journey has been further simplified. From outpatient appointment booking and registration, real-time waiting time tracking, payment, to collecting medications without queuing, and receiving follow-up arrangements and health education information, everything can be easily managed via mobile devices, reflecting the spirit of patient centric service. Dr Lee emphasised that cybersecurity has become a clinical safety imperative in the course of digital transformation, and the HA remains committed to ensuring the rigorous protection of patient data.
 
In support of the Government’s initiative to establish Hong Kong as an International Health and Medical Innovation Hub, the HA is strengthening its collaboration with universities to leverage clinical data for medical research. Concurrently, through the Government’s new “1+” mechanism, the HA is partnering with technology and pharmaceutical sectors to co-develop new drugs, medical devices and care models, while ensuring that affordability and global standards are built into the design of every new treatment.
 
In conclusion, Dr Lee said, “The measure of our success lies not in how sophisticated our healthcare system is, but in whether patients in the bed feel seen, whether the carers feel supported, and whether our staff take pride in the work they do. This is what true service excellence means. Healthcare is not only science and systems; it is embodied in the spirit of every healthcare professional who is willing to go the extra mile. It is the very spirit that has enabled the HA to build a solid foundation over the past 35 years and to continue moving forward.” She expressed confidence that with the dedication and commitment of all members of the HA and the support of global partners, the HA will continue to pursue excellence, safeguard public health, and collectively shape a more sustainable future for the public healthcare system.
 

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

​The Nuclear Emergency Committee Office of the Guangdong Province notified the Security Bureau of an operational event at Ling Ao Nuclear Power Station (LNPS), a Security Bureau spokesperson said today (May 10).

On May 7, Unit 1 of LNPS was undergoing a planned overhaul for refueling. During routine testing, station staff remotely closed one of the cooling water isolation valves of the standby equipment from the main control room to adjust the cooling water flow, and restored it to normal status on the same day. Since the isolation valve remained closed for a duration exceeding the requirement of the technical specification, this event was classified as a Level 0 deviation on May 8 in accordance with the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale and the relevant nuclear safety regulations.  

Throughout the above event, Unit 1 remained in a safe condition, the three safety barriers remained intact and there was no release of radioactive substances. This deviation did not affect the safety of the Unit, the health of the workers, the nearby public or the environment.

The Daya Bay Nuclear Power Operations and Management Co Ltd has reported the relevant situation to the nuclear safety regulatory authority in a timely manner, and will conduct internal experience feedback. It has also released the details of this event on its website (www.dnmc.com.cn) (Chinese only), which can be viewed in the “operational events” section under the “nuclear and radiation safety information” page of the website.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the CUHK EMBA Annual Conference today (May 9):

Professor Dennis Lo (Vice-Chancellor and President, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)), Professor Lin Zhou (Dean, CUHK Business School), Macy (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Ms Macy Chan), Michael (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Mr Michael Chan), CUHK EMBA alumni and students, business leaders, distinguished guests and friends,      
     Addressing a room full of Executive MBA students and graduates is both an honour and a privilege. There is a particular kind of ambition in this room — one that is not content with success alone, but driven to understand it more deeply, in the belief that better ideas lead to greater impact.
      
     That kind of commitment — to learning, to growth, to asking harder questions — is precisely what today’s conversation is about.
      
     The theme of this conference, which focuses on innovation and agile leadership, could not be more timely. Most of us here have lived through the Internet age and the smartphone revolution, which made communication faster and more seamless than anyone had imagined. 
      
     Today, the rise of AI places us at a more fundamental tipping point. Technology is not merely changing the answers — it is redefining the questions themselves. 
      
     Consider what is already within reach. An AI assistant can learn your preferences, curate a personalised shortlist, and simply ask for your confirmation. We should even ask whether the smartphone and the search engine will remain our primary gateways to the digital world, or whether something altogether new is already taking shape.
      
     To draw an analogy, the power of technology does not lie in drawing the old map with greater precision. It lies in revealing how much of that map remains uncharted — and in showing us that entirely new maps, with new co-ordinates, are being drawn.
      
     This redefinition is unfolding across three dimensions simultaneously.
      
     First, the redefinition of products. Products are no longer discrete, standalone objects. A smart car is a vehicle, but also a mobile platform for data. An insurance policy can be a contract, but equally a dynamic reflection of health data. Innovation today is born from cross-sector convergence and continuous evolution.      
     Third, and most importantly, the redefinition of business models. In the past, we sought optimal solutions within established frameworks — when demand rose, we expanded capacity; when service needs grew, we opened more branches. Technology invites us to break out of those frameworks entirely. Intelligent manufacturing means that “economies of scale” is no longer the only answer; flexible supply chains have made customised, on-demand production the new normal.
      
     These three redefinitions are opening a commercial frontier unlike anything we have seen before. But if the benefits of technology accrue only to a small circle, its power remains fundamentally constrained. This brings me to the second message I want to leave with you today: inclusivity.
      
     Inclusivity is not charity. Yet it is the smartest business strategy available. The unmet needs of the broader public represent the largest and most underserved market opportunity in existence. When you make quality healthcare, education and financial services accessible and affordable to ordinary residents, you are not serving a group in need of handouts — you are unlocking a vast market that traditional business models have consistently overlooked. 
      
     Hong Kong has a distinctive role to play here. We can be a co-architect of standards, a hub for capital, and a bridge between innovation and real-world deployment — from clinical validation of smart healthcare, to green technology financing, to regulatory sandboxes for fintech. Our contribution draws not only on institutional strengths and international networks, but on our genuine commitment to broad-based participation.
      
     Yet inclusive products and services are only the first step. The deeper dimension is empowerment.
      
     History reminds us that the dividends of technological revolution need to be actively guided to reach the many. In the age of steam, and again in the Internet era, early gains concentrated among capital owners and top-tier talent. But today we have the opportunity to write a different story. AI, as an amplifier of human capability, is already enabling what was previously unimaginable: a solo entrepreneur, with the right tools and the right vision, can build a unicorn.
      
     In other words, the unit of competitive advantage is shifting — from the size of your team to the skill with which you orchestrate your tools.
      
     Our mission should be to make that shift available to everyone. To turn individual readiness into collective prosperity, and to ensure that the productivity gains of AI flow broadly across the society.
      
     This is precisely why, in this year’s Budget, I placed such emphasis on the “AI Training for All” initiative.
      
     We are not trying to turn everyone into an engineer. We are ensuring that workers, managers, SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) owners, and ordinary residents become capable collaborators with AI: people who can access it, use it effectively, and put it to work as their assistant. 
      
     That may sound ambitious, but consider this: if AI can one day be as intuitive as the smartphone, then mass adoption is not difficult to imagine at all. Just as computers once migrated from specialist facilities into offices and homes, AI will find its way into everyone’s daily work and life.
      
     For business leaders, it may be tempting to think of AI as “digital employee” that can replace existing workers. But think of a different framing: equipping your workforce with powerful digital assistants can achieve productivity gains, while also freeing your people to do what humans do best — create, imagine and innovate.       
     All in all, the power of technology must ultimately be measured by its contribution to inclusive growth. And inclusive growth, in the end, depends on, yes, commercial acumen — but also empathy, compassion, and the conviction that a rising tide should lift all boats. I can see that those qualities live in this room.
      
     I will close with this thought. Someone once joked that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. With AI, let us never fall into the same trap — in our race to price every efficiency gain, let us not lose sight of the deeper value we are trying to create: a society where the fruits of innovation are broadly shared, and where technology lifts not just the fortunate few, but everyone willing to reach for it.
      
     So here is my ask: let us grow the pie together. And make sure we cut it well.
      
     Thank you very much.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

     The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, will depart for a visit to Jiangxi tomorrow morning (May 10) to attend the launch ceremony of the Long March exchange activity series for Hong Kong and Macao youth in Ruijin city on May 11.

     Mr Chan will return to Hong Kong in the afternoon on May 11. During Mr Chan’s absence, the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing, will be the Acting Chief Secretary for Administration.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

​The Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, will depart for a visit to Sweden and Finland tomorrow (May 10) to strengthen ties and collaboration in areas such as innovation and technology (I&T) between Hong Kong and the two countries, and to study their local development experience in industry-academia-research integration.

During the visit, Professor Sun will visit universities and higher education institutions, research institutes and I&T facilities there. He will also meet with local government officials in charge of relevant policies as well as representatives of I&T organisations and technology enterprises.

Professor Sun will return to Hong Kong on May 15 afternoon. During his absence, the Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Ms Lillian Cheong, will be the Acting Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     Following is the speech by the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, at the gala dinner in celebration of Hong Kong Exhibition at Venice Biennale on May 8 (Venice time):

Mr Li Xiaoyong (Charge d’Affaires ad interim at the Chinese Embassy in Italy), Dr Ambrosetti (Ambassador of Italy to the People’s Republic of China, Dr Massimo Ambrosetti), Ms Bisson (Director of International Relations Department, Veneto Region Government, Ms Annalisa Bisson), Kenneth (Chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Mr Kenneth Fok), Nancy (Chairman of the Friends of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Mrs Nancy Lee), distinguished guests, cultural leaders, ladies and gentlemen,

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region