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Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Health Bureau announced today the extension of the Pilot Scheme for Supporting Patients of the Hospital Authority in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area for one year until March 31, 2027, with a view to enabling eligible patients of the Hospital Authority (HA) to choose to receive subsidised consultation services at the designated collaborating healthcare institution in the Greater Bay Area.

Under the extended pilot scheme, if an eligible HA patient, ie a patient with scheduled follow-up appointments at designated Specialist Out-patient Clinics or Family Medicine Clinics of the HA, incurs a medical fee of RMB100 or above for each consultation received at the designated out-patient clinic of the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKU-SZH), the patient will be required to co-pay RMB100, while the remaining medical fee will be subsidised by the pilot scheme, subject to a cap of RMB2,000 per year. The validity period of the subsidy is from tomorrow to March 31 next year.

The scope of subsidised consultation services under the scheme will continue to cover out-patient services provided by the HA. However, episodic illnesses, inpatient or day inpatient, as well as accident and emergency services are not included under the scope of subsidised consultation services. The patients are required to attend at the service departments of the HKU-SZH that correspond with the HA’s out-patient service categories for which they have medical follow-up to receive subsidised consultation services.

Existing patients of the pilot scheme who wish to continue participating may make appointments through the existing channels whereby the HKU-SZH will make appointments that correspond with the HA’s out-patient service categories for which they have follow-up appointments.

Patients who wish to cease participation and return to Hong Kong for follow-up consultations at the HA’s out-patient clinics may approach the HKU-SZH and the hospital will make a referral for them according to their clinical needs.

As for eligible HA patients who have not participated in the pilot scheme before, or those who have joined the scheme but need to have their personal information updated, they may submit their application to the HKU-SZH starting tomorrow.

Launched on May 10, 2023, the pilot scheme aims to provide an additional service option for eligible HA patients, and is currently applicable to the HKU-SZH. As of end-February this year, more than 6,000 eligible patients have participated in the scheme, with more than 60% being citizens aged 65 or above.

For enquiries, call the HA at 2300 7070 or the HKU-SZH at (+86) 0755 8691 3101.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The 2026 Hong Kong Family & Women Development Summit was held today, attracting more than 1,200 representatives from local and Greater Bay Area women’s groups, as well as the business and relevant service sectors to register and participate.

The summit adopted the theme “Shaping Women’s Strengths and Harnessing a Shared Future for Families”, and aimed to take women’s development and family building to the next level.

State Councillor Shen Yiqin, who also heads the State Council’s National Working Committee on Children & Women, and chairs the All-China Women’s Federation, officiated at the summit and delivered an opening address. Chief Executive John Lee gave remarks at the opening ceremony.

In his remarks, Mr Lee noted that the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women was successfully convened in Beijing last year, injecting new momentum into promoting global gender equality and the all-round development of women.

President Xi Jinping put forward four proposals in the meeting – jointly foster an enabling environment for women’s growth and development, jointly cultivate powerful momentum for the high-quality development of women’s causes, jointly develop governance frameworks to protect women’s rights and interests, and jointly write a new chapter in promoting global co-operation on women.

These important proposals, Mr Lee said, provide clear direction for the development of women’s causes, inspiring broader consensus-building and taking more pragmatic actions to fully promote the all-round development of women.

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The Chief Executive noted that his policy rationale is to build Hong Kong into a caring and inclusive home, with the family at its core.

Women’s development and family building complement each other. The current-term Government has actively implemented various measures to lay a solid foundation in these two aspects.

Looking ahead, Mr Lee said the Government will continue to improve the support policies for women in areas such as employment and entrepreneurship, lifelong learning, and physical and mental well-being, in order to sustain an environment conducive to women’s development.

Further efforts will also be made to promote the importance of family, family education and family values, and to advocate Chinese traditional virtues, thus fostering a caring and inclusive community, he added.

International Organization for Mediation Secretary-General Prof Teresa Cheng; Head of Office (ad interim) of UN Women China Wang Chuqiao; Secretary for Home & Youth Affairs Alice Mak; and Women’s Commission Chairperson Eliza Chan gave keynote speeches at the summit.

They shared their experience and insights on women’s development in the new era, the promotion of women’s rights and interests, and family building.

Addressing the summit, Miss Mak said: “Through this summit, we hope to carry forward the vision of the Beijing Meeting and implement the important proposals put forward by President Xi, so that women can see opportunities, receive support and participate in development, while families can be filled with warmth, harmony and love, and play an important role in social governance.”

Two thematic sessions were held at the summit to discuss ways to empower women to seize the opportunities of the new era, and how family cohesion provides steadfast support in times of adversity.

The summit was jointly organised by the Home & Youth Affairs Bureau, the Women’s Commission and the Family Council.

Click here for details and highlights of the summit.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

On a visit to Zhejiang, Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki today conducted site visits to study the development models of university towns, industry-academic-research integration mechanisms, and strategies for attracting top international institutions.

The Chief Secretary, leading a delegation from the Northern Metropolis Development Committee’s Working Group on Planning & Construction of the University Town, went to the Xiasha Higher Education Park in Hangzhou, the largest higher education park in Zhejiang. They toured various institutions in the park, including Hangzhou Dianzi University, China Jiliang University, Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics, and Zhejiang Gongshang University.

Highlights of the tour included the industrial innovation centre of Qiantang District’s higher education park as well as Zhejiang Sci-Tech University’s science and technology innovation building, where the delegation learnt about the integrated development model of the higher education park’s education chains, industrial chains, talent chains and innovation chains.

Afterwards, the delegation met representatives from the Department of Education of Zhejiang Province, the Qiantang District People’s Government of Hangzhou Municipality and heads of higher education institutions. They also listened to a briefing by Deputy Director of Zhejiang Province Department of Education Shu Peidong on the planning, construction and inter-institution co-operation of the Xiasha Higher Education Park.

Noting that the park’s experience in construction, funding and management could be drawn on by Hong Kong, Mr Chan expressed hope that the delegation would learn from the park’s success in order to better promote the integration of industry, academia and research in the Northern Metropolis University Town.

In the afternoon, the delegation headed to the Zhejiang University International Campus (Haining) to view the international collaborative education model there. They also met Zhejiang University Executive Vice President Prof Wang Lizhong and Zhejiang University International Campus Dean Gu Zhen to discuss strengthening exchanges in higher education fields and talent cultivation.

Mr Chan remarked that the experience of Zhejiang University International Campus (Haining) would provide valuable insights for the development of the Northern Metropolis University Town, thereby helping Hong Kong contribute more on building China into a leading country in education.

Mr Chan, Secretary for Education Choi Yuk-lin and members of the delegation departed for Beijing this evening and will continue their visit tomorrow.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Chief Executive John Lee today met State Councillor Shen Yiqin at Government House.

Ms Shen is also Chairperson of the National Working Committee on Children & Women under the State Council, and President of the All-China Women’s Federation.

She is leading a delegation to attend the Hong Kong Family & Women Development Summit being held in the city today.

Mr Lee welcomed Ms Shen and her delegation to the summit and applauded her guidance. He said her support reflects the importance the country attaches to women’s affairs and family building in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The Chief Executive said hosting the summit is a concrete action by Hong Kong to actively promote women and family affairs, and the extensive participation of various sectors of the community demonstrates Hong Kong’s strong cohesiveness in advancing the cause.

He said the current-term Hong Kong SAR Government has rolled out a series of innovative policies and measures on women’s development and family building, which have laid a solid foundation for the work on women’s development and family building in Hong Kong while nurturing a new generation of women’s power.

Such initiatives include the establishment of the Women Empowerment Fund, the launch of the “She Inspires” Mentorship Programme that matches female university students with women leader mentors, the implementation of the Funding Scheme on the Promotion of Family Education, the organisation of the Hong Kong Excellent Family Awards, and more.

Mr Lee said the National 15th Five-Year Plan clearly sets out its support for the promotion of gender equality and the all-round development of women, as well as the importance of dedicating efforts in upholding good family values and strengthening family building, family education and family virtues.

These demonstrate the country’s strong commitment to the development of women and family affairs, and provide an important guide for the Hong Kong SAR in planning its work on family and women’s affairs.

Hong Kong will, Mr Lee iterated, proactively take forward the relevant work and strengthen planning efforts on family development with a view to promoting good family virtues, advancing the diversified development of women and fostering social harmony.

He highlighted that Hong Kong enjoys the advantage of being closely connected to both the Mainland and the world under the “one country, two systems” principle.

Hong Kong will continue to play its bridging role in promoting exchanges and co-operation between the country and the international community in women and family affairs, and make greater contributions to the national development and on the international stage, the Chief Executive added.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Immigration Department estimates that around 6.44 million passengers will pass through Hong Kong’s sea, land and air control points during the upcoming Easter and Ching Ming festive period from April 3 to 7.

In consultation with the Shenzhen General Station of Exit & Entry Frontier Inspection and other Mainland authorities, the department also estimates that around 5.43 million passengers will pass through land boundary control points.

Releasing the information in a statement today, it said the number of outbound and inbound passengers using land boundary control points will be highest on April 3 and April 7, with around 712,000 passengers and 671,000 passengers anticipated on those days respectively.

The department also expects passenger traffic at the Lo Wu Control Point, the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point and the Shenzhen Bay Control Point to be heavy, with daily average forecasts of about 240,000, 220,000 and 184,000 passengers respectively.

To cope with the anticipated heavy traffic, the department has minimised leave for frontline officers to allow flexible deployment and operation of additional counters, temporary counters and channels.

To ensure smooth passenger traffic flows, the department, the Police Force, Customs and the MTR Corporation will set up a joint command centre at the Lo Wu Control Point.

The department will also establish close communication with Mainland authorities including the Shenzhen General Station of Exit & Entry Frontier Inspection.

Residents and visitors can visit Easy Boundary, a one-stop information platform on immigration clearance launched by the Security Bureau, to obtain useful information. This includes average waiting times for passengers and private cars at land boundary control points, as well as for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge cross-boundary shuttle bus and the Lok Ma Chau-Huanggang cross-boundary shuttle bus.

To further enhance passenger clearance efficiency, 12 additional new e-channels, equipped with the “Face Easy e-Channel” function, were installed at the Hong Kong International Airport arrival hall today.

When using the function, eligible Hong Kong residents need only face the camera, instead of presenting any documents or a QR code. Upon successful identity verification via facial recognition, immigration clearance will be completed.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The value of residential mortgage loans approved in February was $29 billion, a 10.8% decrease compared with January, the Monetary Authority announced today.

Mortgage loans financing primary market transactions decreased 24% to $8.6 billion, while those financing secondary market transactions decreased 6.1% to $17.2 billion.

Loans for refinancing increased 10.7% to $3.2 billion.

Mortgage loans drawn down during February amounted to $16.4 billion, a 24.4% drop from January.

The number of mortgage applications in February fell 7.5% month-on-month to 8,125.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans rose 0.2% month-on-month to $1.9263 trillion at end-February.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

​Hong Kong Customs yesterday (March 30) seized about 2.4 kilograms of suspected ketamine, about 1.4kg of suspected crack cocaine and 104 tablets of suspected nimetazepam with a total estimated market value of about $2.6 million in Sham Tseng. A man and a woman suspected to be connected with the case were arrested.

Through intelligence analysis and a detailed investigation, Customs targeted a man who was suspected of controlling a drug repacking centre in Sham Tseng. Customs officers conducted a premises search in a residential flat in Sham Tseng yesterday evening and seized the batch of suspected drugs and a batch of drug packaging paraphernalia. A 23-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman were arrested therein.

The two arrestees have been jointly charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug and will appear at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (April 1).

Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, trafficking in a dangerous drug is a serious offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and life imprisonment. 

Members of the public may report any suspected drug trafficking activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002/en).

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region