Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Assainir, relancer et développer ensemble : les orientations du 18e gouvernement

The Government today announced that the Electronic Health Record Sharing System (Amendment) Bill 2025, which seeks to refine the legal framework around the Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHealth), will be published on Friday.

The bill proposes to amend the existing Electronic Health Record Sharing System Ordinance by enhancing the mechanism for data collection, sharing, usage and protection, in tandem with the Government’s “eHealth+” five-year development plan.

The bill will provide a legal framework for establishing a comprehensive personal electronic health record (eHR) for citizens. This includes streamlining the consent mechanism.

The Secretary for Health will be empowered to require specified healthcare providers (HCPs) to deposit specified health data into personal eHealth accounts. These arrangements will make it easier for citizens to obtain their records from HCPs and enhance service efficiency.

To support the development of primary healthcare services provided by multi-disciplinary teams, the bill will expand the categories of healthcare professionals (HCProfs) who, with citizens’ consent, can access their health data on eHealth.

In addition to the existing 13 types of HCProfs subject to statutory registration, HCProfs registered with professional bodies under the Department of Health’s Accredited Registers Scheme for Healthcare Professions, and other specified HCProfs who provide healthcare in facilities controlled or managed by the Government and the Hospital Authority, will also be included.

The Government emphasised that compared to using paper documents, electronic medical documents are more convenient and less likely to get lost.

.

The bill will provide a clear legal framework with respect to electronic medical documents issued or authenticated through eHealth. This includes enabling the Government to designate eHealth as the only platform for the issuance of certain medical documents where appropriate.

To support citizens, the bill also includes provisions on the recognition of individual HCPs and public health record systems outside of Hong Kong, subject to data privacy and system security protections, and in compliance with specified requirements and conditions.

HCPs outside of Hong Kong will only be able access eHealth records when a registered citizen provides explicit consent for this to happen. Under no other circumstances will eHealth records be transmitted across the boundary.

In addition, the bill will specify that certain relations of citizens, including parents of minors, as well as authorised caregivers, may provide and obtain eHealth records on a citizen’s behalf.

The bill will be introduced into the Legislative Council for a first reading on March 26.

Source: Assainir, relancer et développer ensemble : les orientations du 18e gouvernement

The overall Comprehensive Social Security Assistance caseload rose by 188 cases to 195,775 in February, up 0.1% from January, the Social Welfare Department announced today.

The total number of recipients was 262,513.

Low-earnings cases fell by 1.1% month on month to 1,354 cases. Single parent cases dropped 0.3% to 19,025 cases. Permanent disability cases declined 0.1% to 16,704 cases.

Meanwhile, the number of old age cases rose 0.2% to 110,943. Unemployment cases increased by 0.1% to 16,069 cases, while ill-health cases remained steady at 27,762 cases.

Source: Assainir, relancer et développer ensemble : les orientations du 18e gouvernement

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged up  0.1 percentage point from November 2024 to January 2025 to 3.2% for the December 2024 to February 2025 period, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.

The underemployment rate remained at 1.1%.

Total employment was 3,709,500, down 7,100 from November 2024 to January 2025, while the labour force also dropped 5,400 to 3,821,300.

The number of unemployed people increased from 110,100 to 111,700. Meanwhile, the number of underemployed people decreased from 43,000 to 40,700.

Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun said the labour market should remain largely stable in the near term, although some businesses would be affected by the uncertainties stemming from US trade protection measures.

Source: Assainir, relancer et développer ensemble : les orientations du 18e gouvernement

The Centre for Health Protection today said it is investigating a cluster of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) symptoms among six secondary students who participated in an exchange tour to Xiamen last week.

The latest cluster involves 36 teachers and students from a Kwun Tong secondary school, who joined a Xiamen exchange tour between March 13 and 15.

On the second night of the tour, six students developed AGE symptoms – vomiting, diarrhoea and fever, from about 9pm to about 7am the next day. Five of them sought medical attention in Xiamen, and none required hospitalisation.

Preliminary epidemiological investigations revealed that all six students had not consumed any common food items other than the group meals, and had no other common exposure history in Hong Kong prior to their departure.

Hence, at this stage, the centre could not rule out the possibility that the cases were infected by consuming contaminated food.

It has notified the Mainland health authority of the epidemiological investigations and information about the restaurants concerned, in addition to collecting stool specimens from the patients for laboratory testing and notifying the Education Bureau of its assessment of the new cases.

The centre also gave an update of the three clusters of students participating in exchange tours to Shaoguan who developed gastroenteritis symptoms earlier.

Its follow-up investigation found that three more students developed gastroenteritis symptoms on March 7 and 9 respectively, bringing the total number of affected people to 55 teachers and students.

Among them, 16 have sought medical attention, and three have tested positive for norovirus. The centre will continue to work closely with the Guangdong authority and take necessary follow-up action.

In view of the recent high activity of norovirus, the centre has issued a letter to all schools in Hong Kong to provide health advice on the transmission, prevention and infection control of AGE.

It also organised an online meeting for the bureau and the exchange tours service contractors last week to provide health advice on the prevention of communicable diseases and food safety during trips.

Apart from the Mainland, there have been recent outbreaks of AGE in other popular travel destinations for Hong Kong citizens, such as Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan.

The centre reminds members of the public to remain vigilant and maintain personal, environmental and food hygiene at all times to minimise the risk of being infected while travelling.

Visit the centre’s website for information on viral gastroenteritis.

Source: Assainir, relancer et développer ensemble : les orientations du 18e gouvernement

The Government announced that the Task Group on New Medical School has received a total of three proposals for the establishment of the third medical school by today’s deadline for submissions.

The proposals were submitted by Hong Kong Baptist University, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology.

The task group will proceed to the next stage of work to evaluate the proposals according to the devised parameters, having agreed to adopt a holistic and comprehensive approach for evaluating the proposals submitted by universities from various perspectives.

This is in accordance with 10 key parameters, including innovative strategic positioning, curriculum structure and assessment methodologies, and financial sustainability.

Expert advisers and other group members will conduct an in-depth evaluation of the proposals in their areas of expertise. The task group plans to conduct interviews within the second quarter of this year with the universities concerned to gain a better understanding of their proposals for making a consolidated consideration.

The task group is expected to complete the evaluation and recommend to the Government within this year a proposal that could nurture more talented medical practitioners in support of the high quality development of the local healthcare service system, while aligning with the development of Hong Kong into an international medical training, research and innovation hub.

Source: Assainir, relancer et développer ensemble : les orientations du 18e gouvernement

The Labour Importation Scheme for the Transport Sector – Aviation Industry will be open for a third round of applications from tomorrow.

As with the first two rounds, importation of labour is allowed for the 10 frontline non-supervisory job types facing the most acute manpower shortage.

They cover passenger services officers, ramp services agents, cabin workers, aircraft maintenance mechanics/technicians, tractor drivers, warehouse operators/cargo handlers, equipment/loader operators, customer services agents, aircraft tug drivers and maintenance technicians.

Applicants must be registered business entities which possess a contract, licence, franchise or passenger handling permit with the Airport Authority to operate their business at Hong Kong International Airport.

They must also pay the authority $400 per month for each worker imported, while the authority will contribute an annual lump sum of the same magnitude as the total amount paid by applicants, for subsidising the transport costs of the local frontline staff responsible for the airport’s operation.

The relevant transport subsidies have been disbursed to the staff since last May.

Applicants shall submit the completed application form together with other required documents to the authority between March 18 and 31.

The approval process will be completed approximately two weeks after the application period ends.

Around 4,100 quotas have been approved after two rounds of applications, while around 4,000 imported workers have arrived in Hong Kong.

For enquiries, call the authority at 2188 6603.

Click here for more details.

Source: Assainir, relancer et développer ensemble : les orientations du 18e gouvernement

The Labour Department today announced that the Tuen Mun Job Centre will merge with the Yuen Long Job Centre starting April 1. Upon merging, the job centre at G/F, Victory Building, 3 Tsing Min Path, Tuen Mun will be renamed as the New Territories West Job Centre.

Apart from services provided by job centres, the department’s iES website and the iES mobile application provide round-the-clock online employment services and employment information.

Jobseekers and employers can also call 2969 0888 and 2503 3377 to access services.

Source: Assainir, relancer et développer ensemble : les orientations du 18e gouvernement

Overall consumer prices rose 1.4% year-on-year in February, a smaller rate of increase than the 2% seen in January, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.

Netting out the effects of the Government’s one-off relief measures, underlying inflation was 1.1%, also smaller than that seen in January.

Compared with a year before, price increases were recorded in February in the following categories: alcoholic drinks and tobacco; electricity, gas and water; transport; housing; miscellaneous goods; meals out and takeaway food; and miscellaneous services.

Meanwhile, year-on-year decreases were logged in basic food, clothing and footwear, and durable goods.

The Government commented that the underlying consumer price inflation stayed modest in early 2025.

Taking January and February together to remove the effect caused by the different timing of the Lunar New Year, the underlying composite consumer price index increased by 1.3% over a year earlier, same as the increase in December 2024. Price pressures on various major components stayed largely contained.

The Government also said overall inflation should remain moderate in the near term.

While domestic costs pressures might increase as the economy continues to grow, external price pressures should remain broadly in check, it added, noting that uncertainties stemming from geopolitical tensions and trade conflicts warrant attention.

Source: Assainir, relancer et développer ensemble : les orientations du 18e gouvernement

Hong Kong has maintained third place globally and continued to rank first in the Asia-Pacific in the Global Financial Centres Index 37 Report published today by the UK’s Z/Yen and the China Development Institute.

Hong Kong’s overall rating in the report increased 11 points to 760, slightly closing the gap with the first place rating.

The city’s rankings in human capital, infrastructure, and financial sector development rose to second in the world, while rankings in business environment, and reputational and general rose to third globally.

Hong Kong also ranked among the top in various financial industry sectors, ranking first globally in investment management, insurance, and finance, and third in banking.

In the report’s assessment of financial centres’ fintech offering, Hong Kong’s ranking leapt further by five places to fourth in the world.

The Government said the report fully recognises Hong Kong’s leading status and strengths as an international financial centre, noting that with the country’s staunch support, it will leverage the advantages under “one country, two systems”, actively integrate into the national development and deepen international co-operation to fulfil its roles as a “super connector” and “super value-adder”.

With finance as an important tool to support the real economy, the Government added that the policy initiatives announced in the 2025-26 Budget press ahead with the high-quality development of Hong Kong’s international financial market to create more new growth areas.

Source: Assainir, relancer et développer ensemble : les orientations du 18e gouvernement

The Government today announced the line-up of speakers for the third edition of the Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit, due to take place on March 26.

This year’s summit, co-organised by the Financial Services & the Treasury Bureau and Invest Hong Kong, has “Hong Kong of the World, for the World” as its theme. The event will strive to forge new connections and leverage Hong Kong’s distinctive advantages under “one country, two systems” to drive innovation, investment and sustainable growth.

Participants from Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere in Asia will join Mainland and Hong Kong attendees at the event to exchange insights on art and culture, philanthropy, technology, and investments in artificial intelligence.

Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Christopher Hui said world-class speakers, and decision-makers from family offices, will gather in Hong Kong to explore how the city’s strategic advantages can shape a bright future and legacy.

He added that attendees will get a feel for the unparalleled opportunities Hong Kong has to offer as a global family office hub that can drive sustainable growth and touch lives far beyond its own shores courtesy of its strong financial and legal infrastructure, global connectivity, and thriving professional and philanthropic ecosystem.

Distinguished international speakers at the summit will include the World Economic Forum’s Head of GAEA Luis Alvarado, ADLEGACY Founder Horst Bente, Swarovski International Holding Vice Chairman Robert Buchbauer, Hong Kong Academy for Wealth Legacy Board Chairman Adrian Cheng, Gates Foundation Senior Advisor and Director Steve Davis, and Clinique La Prairie Chief Executive Officer Simone Gibertoni.

The line-up of speakers also includes BDT & MSD Partners Co-Chief Executive Officer Gregg Lemkau, Pony.ai Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer James Peng, Danantara Indonesia Chief Investment Officer Pandu Patria Sjahrir, Alibaba Group Co-founder and Chairman Joe Tsai, University of Oxford Vice-Chancellor Prof Irene Tracey, The Mall Group Chairwoman Supaluck Umpujh, and MiniMax Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Yeyi Yun.

Part of Hong Kong Super March, the summit is the flagship event of Hong Kong’s Wealth & Investment Mega Event Week, which also includes the Milken Institute Global Investors’ Symposium and the HSBC Global Investment Summit.