MIL Asia Pacific Publishing Engine

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Health Bureau today welcomed the Office of The Ombudsman’s direct investigation operation report on the effectiveness of administrative support provided for complaint handling by the Secretariat of Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) under the Department of Health (DH), and the department’s regulatory role.

The DH said the Government accepts and will actively follow up on the recommendations in the report, striving to assist the MCHK to optimise its complaint-handling mechanism, enhance operational efficiency, and improve service quality.

In its report published today, the Ombudsman expressed concerns about the MCHK’s current mechanism and the progress in complaint handling, and put forward a number of recommendations for improvement, some of which will involve legislative amendments.

The Health Bureau had previously indicated that it would propose amendments to the Medical Registration Ordinance in response to the report submitted by the MCHK and its operational needs in order to ensure that the mechanism keeps pace with the times and meets the needs of society.

The bureau today added that it will formulate detailed proposals to amend the ordinance with reference to the Ombudsman’s views and its report.

The bureau outlined that the amendment aims to enable the MCHK and its secretariat to discharge their duties of upholding doctors’ professional conduct and continuously enhance medical professional standards more effectively under the principle of professional autonomy.

The Legislative Council’s Panel on Health Services will be briefed by the bureau shortly on the proposed directions and enhancement proposals for the ordinance, with a target of introducing an amendment bill into LegCo in the first half of this year.

As to other recommendations made by the Ombudsman concerning the administrative arrangements of the MCHK and its secretariat, the DH said it will invite the MCHK to review and refine the existing arrangements based on the recommendations.

The department added that it will strengthen communication with the MCHK regarding the secretariat’s overall performance of administrative support, staffing and resource requirements, as well as secretariat staff’s performance management to enhance its operational efficiency.

The DH stressed that the medical profession in Hong Kong has all along upheld the principle of professional autonomy.

It noted that the Government will assist the MCHK in discharging its statutory duties through legislative amendments, and other administrative and resource support, thereby further enhancing the professional standards and conduct of doctors to safeguard the interest of the public and patients.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki this afternoon chaired the sixth-term Commission on Poverty’s fifth meeting, during which members were briefed by a university research team on the impacts of various Targeted Poverty Alleviation Schemes.

Members were pleased to learn that the Strive & Rise Programme, the Pilot Programme on Community Living Room and the School-based After School Care Service Scheme have all met key performance indicator targets, and even exceeded some of these.

They also heard about the schemes’ positive impacts on service beneficiaries’ living standards and personal development, and how they affirm the effectiveness of current poverty alleviation schemes.

The research team’s findings will be incorporated into a proposed “Report on Impact of Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy in Hong Kong”.

The report will also quantify the social value transferred to households that benefit from housing, health, education and welfare measures. This analysis will seek to reflect, comprehensively, the Government’s effectiveness in alleviating poverty.

The Government aims to release the report some time in the middle of this year.

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

January 27, 2026  
No. 035  
 
On behalf of the government of Taiwan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung hosted a luncheon on January 27 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to warmly welcome Paraguayan Minister of Public Health and Social Welfare María Teresa Barán and Director General of International Relations Adriana Amarilla.
 
Minister Lin began by welcoming Minister Barán back to Taiwan. He recalled that when he led a delegation to Paraguay in July 2025, he and Minister Barán witnessed a number of Taiwan-Paraguay joint health care cooperation projects, including a health information system under the Health Information Management Efficiency Enhancement Project—built by Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF) and Cathay General Hospital—and the General Hospital of Asunción construction project. Minister Lin pointed out that these initiatives had received strong support and recognition from Paraguayan President Santiago Peña. 
 
Noting that Minister Barán had long been a staunch advocate for Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly, he sincerely thanked her on behalf of the government and people of Taiwan. He stated that he looked forward to steadily deepening bilateral cooperation and bringing smart medicine and health industries to Paraguay for the benefit of local people and the advancement of industrial upgrading and transformation.
 
Minister Barán expressed appreciation to Taiwan for assistance with the health information system project, which was launched in 2017 and had been implemented in 1,188 health care facilities in Paraguay, marking an important milestone in Taiwan-Paraguay health care cooperation. She also expressed hope that the General Hospital of Asunción, once operational, would become the new benchmark for quality health care services in Paraguay. Minister Barán underscored that Taiwan had played an indispensable role in the history of health care development in Paraguay and that it was a key contributor to the global public health system. She reiterated that Paraguay would continue to staunchly speak up for Taiwan and back its participation in the international community.
 
At the invitation of Minister Lin, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Ching-yi, Superintendent of Cathay General Hospital Chien Chih-cheng, Deputy Secretary General of TaiwanICDF Stephen J. H. Lee, and representatives from Taiwan’s smart medicine and health care industries were also present at the event. They exchanged views with the delegation on a broad range of issues, including AI-driven medical data analytics and telemedicine, and discussed future directions for linking the health care industries of the two countries.
 
The members of the delegation are visiting from January 26 to 30, during which time they hope to further their understanding of the latest developments in public health, medicine, and social welfare in Taiwan. In addition to calling at MOFA, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, TaiwanICDF, and other organizations, the delegation will tour the facilities of National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, E-Da Hospital, Taipei Zhongshan Seniors Housing and Service Center, and Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park, opening a new chapter in health care exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and Paraguay. (E)

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Health Bureau said today that as of Tuesday, 77 of the 79 patients admitted to Hospital Authority (HA) hospitals following November’s fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po had recovered and been discharged, while the remaining four were in a stable condition.

All individuals injured in the fire and admitted to public hospitals are entitled to receive full fee waivers for all necessary healthcare services throughout the entire process of their treatment and rehabilitation.

Moreover, all residents of the eight blocks at Wang Fuk Court, including foreign domestic helpers, are eligible for full medical fee waivers until December 31 of this year. As of Tuesday, the HA had provided such services to around 2,000 affected residents.

District Health Centres/District Health Centre Expresses across all of the city’s 18 districts are operating hotlines to provide personalised case management services for affected residents. As of Tuesday, the hotlines had received 386 enquiries.

Regarding mental health services, the bureau said that from the time of the Tai Po blaze to February 3, the 18111 Mental Health Support Hotline had received over 22,200 calls, around 760 of which were related to the fire. An associated WhatsApp service has handled over 1,000 messages, with about 50 of these concerning the fire.

In addition, the HA’s 24-hour Mental Health Direct hotline had received 109 calls related to the blaze, with 47 of these coming from affected citizens.

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).