Tag Archives: China

     In response to the Japanese Government’s plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station, the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene issued a Food Safety Order which prohibits all aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds originating from the 10 metropolis/prefectures, namely Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, from being imported into and supplied in Hong Kong.
 
     For other Japanese aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds that are not prohibited from being imported into Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department is conducting comprehensive radiological tests to verify that the radiation levels of these products do not exceed the guideline levels before they are allowed to be supplied in the market.
 
     As the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water is unprecedented and will continue for 30 years or more, the Government will closely monitor the situation and continue to implement the enhanced testing arrangements. Should anomalies be detected, the Government does not preclude further tightening the scope of the import ban.
 
     From noon on March 18 to noon today (March 19), the CFS conducted tests on the radiological levels of 263 food samples imported from Japan, which were of the “aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt” category. No sample was found to have exceeded the safety limit. Details can be found on the CFS’s thematic website titled “Control Measures on Foods Imported from Japan” (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rafs/programme_rafs_fc_01_30_Nuclear_Event_and_Food_Safety.html).

     In parallel, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has also tested 50 samples of local catch for radiological levels. All the samples passed the tests. Details can be found on the AFCD’s website (www.afcd.gov.hk/english/fisheries/Radiological_testing/Radiological_Test.html).
 
     The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) has also enhanced the environmental monitoring of the local waters. No anomaly has been detected so far. For details, please refer to the HKO’s website
(www.hko.gov.hk/en/radiation/monitoring/seawater.html).
 
     From August 24, 2023, to noon today, the CFS and the AFCD have conducted tests on the radiological levels of 123 505 samples of food imported from Japan (including 81 108 samples of aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt) and 28 478 samples of local catch respectively. All the samples passed the tests. read more

     In response to the Japanese Government’s plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station, the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene issued a Food Safety Order which prohibits all aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds originating from the 10 metropolis/prefectures, namely Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, from being imported into and supplied in Hong Kong.
 
     For other Japanese aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds that are not prohibited from being imported into Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department is conducting comprehensive radiological tests to verify that the radiation levels of these products do not exceed the guideline levels before they are allowed to be supplied in the market.
 
     As the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water is unprecedented and will continue for 30 years or more, the Government will closely monitor the situation and continue to implement the enhanced testing arrangements. Should anomalies be detected, the Government does not preclude further tightening the scope of the import ban.
 
     From noon on March 18 to noon today (March 19), the CFS conducted tests on the radiological levels of 263 food samples imported from Japan, which were of the “aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt” category. No sample was found to have exceeded the safety limit. Details can be found on the CFS’s thematic website titled “Control Measures on Foods Imported from Japan” (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rafs/programme_rafs_fc_01_30_Nuclear_Event_and_Food_Safety.html).

     In parallel, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has also tested 50 samples of local catch for radiological levels. All the samples passed the tests. Details can be found on the AFCD’s website (www.afcd.gov.hk/english/fisheries/Radiological_testing/Radiological_Test.html).
 
     The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) has also enhanced the environmental monitoring of the local waters. No anomaly has been detected so far. For details, please refer to the HKO’s website
(www.hko.gov.hk/en/radiation/monitoring/seawater.html).
 
     From August 24, 2023, to noon today, the CFS and the AFCD have conducted tests on the radiological levels of 123 505 samples of food imported from Japan (including 81 108 samples of aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt) and 28 478 samples of local catch respectively. All the samples passed the tests. read more

     Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hok-fung and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (March 19):
 
Question:
 
     It is learnt that the intake of the newly-built public housing estates in Tung Chung, namely Cheung Tung Estate and Chun Tung Estate, will commence progressively this year, and the population in the district is expected to increase by 30 000 or more within the year. On the other hand, there are views that the North Lantau Hospital (NLH), which has been serving the district for more than 11 years, has yet to be developed into a general hospital and only provides seven specialist outpatient services, making it necessary for some patients to travel a long distance to seek consultation at the Princess Margaret Hospital. Regarding the healthcare services for Islands District, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether it knows if the Hospital Authority (HA) has plans to provide all of the 15 specialist services at NLH; if it has, of the timetable and the next specialist outpatient service to be provided at the hospital; if not, the reasons for that;
 
(2) as it has been reported that Stage 1 of Phase 2 development of the NLH project was completed last year, whether the Government knows when HA plans to commence Stage 2 of the development project; if so, of the details;
 
(3) whether the Government has assessed the demand for healthcare services of the additional population brought about by the two aforesaid newly-built public housing estates in Tung Chung, and the time needed for residents moving into these two estates to arrange for a change of the cluster hospitals they attend;
 
(4) whether it knows the current and projected staff establishment and the vacancy rates of NLH for the next three years, together with a breakdown by specialist outpatient service; of the number of days on which each specialist outpatient service is currently provided at the hospital per week; whether it has assessed if such specialist outpatient services can meet the demand of existing patients; and
 
(5) given that while the Government has proposed in the 2024 Policy Address to develop tourism in the Ex-Lamma Quarry area, it is learnt that clinics in the district cannot provide round-the-clock services at present, whether the Government will enhance the services of North Lamma General Outpatient Clinic, so as to cope with the demand arising from future development; if so, of the details?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     In consultation with the Hospital Authority (HA), the consolidated reply to the question raised by the Hon Chan Hok-fung is as follows:
 
(1), (3) and (4) The HA plans and develops various public healthcare services on a cluster basis, taking into account a number of factors, including the increase of service demand arising from population growth and demographic changes, rising prevalence of chronic diseases, technology advancement, manpower supply as well as service arrangements of the various clusters. The HA monitors the utilisation of various healthcare services and plans future hospital services according to the population projection parameters of various districts of Hong Kong and the development plans of the Government.
 
     Currently, Tung Chung falls within the catchment area of the Kowloon West Cluster (KWC). The five hospitals in the KWC, namely the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), the Caritas Medical Centre (CMC), the Yan Chai Hospital (YCH), the Kwai Chung Hospital and the North Lantau Hospital (NLTH), provide comprehensive clinical services to the residents of the district. Based on the Projections of Population Distribution 2023-2031 of the Planning Department, the population of the Tung Chung New Town is about 150 000 in 2025. Under the First Hospital Development Plan (HDP) which is currently being implemented and the Second HDP which is being planned, the Government and the HA will, having taken the healthcare service needs brought by the projected population growth in the relevant districts (including the Tung Chung New Town Extension) into consideration, take forward and plan hospital development projects to increase the number of beds and other healthcare facilities. The HA will also keep in view the utilisation of healthcare services in the KWC to conduct cluster planning and adjust the service provision in the cluster in accordance with the latest projection of service demand, with a view to meeting the healthcare service needs of their patients (including the residents of Tung Chung).
 
     If residents who have newly moved to Tung Chung wish to receive medical consultations in hospitals of the KWC due to personal choice, travel distance to/from hospitals or physical condition, etc., they may apply for the HA’s referral services according to their own needs. The HA will process such applications as soon as practicable.
 
     With regard to the manpower establishment and the provision of specialist out-patient services in the NLTH, the HA provides healthcare services through multi-disciplinary teams comprising doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and supporting grade staff. At present, all the planned projects for Phase 1 development of the NLTH have been put into service, and necessary staff have been recruited according to operational needs. As at February 28, 2025, the NLTH has about 800 staff and 30 vacancies across different staff groups. Arrangements for the manpower establishment of the NLTH in future are made in accordance with the HA annual plan, which is formulated based on service needs. The HA will assess the manpower needs from time to time and deploy manpower flexibly to meet service and operational needs.
 
     The NLTH is currently providing the following specialist out-patient services with the service frequency as below:
 

Specialist out-patient service	Number of days of service in a week
Medicine and Geriatrics	4
Surgery	1
Urology	1
Orthopaedics and Traumatology	4
Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine	3
Gynaecology	1
Psychiatry	2

 
     Besides, all beds in NLTH have been commissioned. As at December 2024, the bed number at the hospital is 180.
 
     To ensure the effective use of resources and that the service volume of individual specialist out-patient services are sufficient for the healthcare staff’s accumulation of clinical experience to ensure the quality of services, the various hospitals in the same cluster will provide different and complementary services to provide comprehensive and optimal services to residents in the cluster’s catchment area. The hospitals in KWC will provide the NLTH with the appropriate service support, such as patients requiring emergency surgeries or having complex medical conditions will be supported by PMH or transferred to PMH for further treatment. Support will be provided to special cases of the Eye as well as the Ear, Nose and Throat specialities by the CMC and the YCH respectively. The KWC will review and plan the clinical services of the five hospitals in the cluster (including the NTLH) from time to time and adjust the service provision as necessary.
 
(2) NLTH Development Phase 2, Stage 1 project, i.e. the Hospital Authority Supporting Services Centre (HASSC), is amongst the projects under the First HDP. Following the funding approval by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council in 2020, the construction works commenced in the fourth quarter of the same year. The HASSC was completed in 2024 and will commission in phases starting from March 2025. It will provide services including laundry, patient meals, critical personal protective equipment and key linen items storage, and a data centre for supporting the operations of NLTH and other public hospitals.
 
     As for the next stage of development for the NLTH, with the changes in the planning and development situation of Hong Kong, the Health Bureau and the HA are reviewing the Second HDP. Amongst others, in view of the planning and development strategies for the whole territory and regions announced by the Planning Department, including the “Hong Kong 2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030” and the Northern Metropolis Development Strategy, as well as the corresponding population projections of Hong Kong including the latest changes in overall population, its distribution and demographics, the Health Bureau and the HA have to make reference to the latest future planning of the whole territory (including the development concepts of the Northern Metropolis), population statistics, population distribution and demographics projections of various districts, and the population policy and talent attraction initiatives of the Government, adopt a planning horizon of up to 2040 and beyond for the Second HDP, and to project the healthcare service demand and consider the supply and conditions of the land required, for optimising the Second HDP.
 
     The Government also considers factors such as the needs for and cost-effectiveness of renovation, refurbishment, redevelopment or addition of facilities for individual hospitals; and the convenience of access of the public for healthcare services under various major transport infrastructure development plans, etc., for determining the distribution, scale and priority, etc. of various hospital development projects under the Second HDP. Upon completion of the review, the Government will announce the details of the Second HDP in due course. 
 
(5) Currently, the public healthcare services on the Lamma Island is mainly provided by the Hong Kong East Cluster of the HA.  The HA has two general out-patient clinics (GOPCs) on the Lamma Island, namely the North Lamma GOPC and the Sok Kwu Wan GOPC. The North Lamma GOPC provides service from Mondays to Fridays during the daytime and on Saturday mornings, with a doctor stationed at the clinic; whereas the Sok Kwu Wan GOPC provides service from Mondays to Saturdays during the daytime, with a doctor stationed at the clinic from Mondays to Fridays and a registered nurse providing nursing and support services during the remaining service hours.
 
     The GOPCs mainly provide service to chronic disease patients with stable medical conditions and episodic disease patients with relatively mild symptoms, and are not intended for provision of emergency services. If any resident of the island encounters emergency situations, the clinic staff will handle the matter according to the contingency mechanism. The clinic nurse will, based on the condition of the patient, contact the accident and emergency (A&E) department and provide appropriate treatment/care to the patient upon the doctor’s advice, or contact other government department(s) for assistance for the transferral of the patient to the A&E department, to ensure that patients with severe and acute symptoms will receive the appropriate treatment and support.
 
     Due to the geographical location of the Lamma Island, apart from the provision of general out-patient services, the HA also provides 24-hour first-aid services by a registered nurse at the North Lamma GOPC to ensure that the residents there can receive immediate first-aid services outside the service hours of the GOPCs.
 
     While planning for and developing the provision of public primary healthcare services, the Government needs to take into account a number of factors, including the delivery model of the primary healthcare service, demographic changes, distribution of the target groups, the provision of and demand for primary healthcare services within the district, etc. Having regard to the cost-effectiveness of providing overnight general out-patient service and the additional demand for healthcare manpower, the HA has no plan to provide overnight general out-patient service on Lamma Island at this stage based on the consideration of effective use of healthcare resources.
 
     In the long run, the HA will dovetail with the Government’s overall development policies, continue to closely monitor the demand for public primary healthcare services in the district and plan for and adjust the services with reference to the demand, so as to provide suitable primary healthcare services to the residents in the district. read more

     Following is a question by the Hon Judy Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (March 19):

Question:

     Since April 2023, the Hospital Authority (HA) has started using the Central Government-Aided Emergency Hospital (CGAEH) located in the Lok Ma Chau Loop for the provision of ambulatory services, and has launched the Ambulatory Diagnostic Radiology Service Pilot Programme (the Pilot Programme) to invite patients with suitable clinical conditions to switch to CGAEH to receive radiological diagnostic services. Subsequently, HA has gradually expanded the services of CGAEH, including extending the service scope of the Pilot Programme to cover patients referred by all public hospitals in Hong Kong, introducing Magnetic Resonance Imaging services for thyroid eye disease, and providing imaging examination services with the use of two Ultrasonography machines and three Computed Tomography scanners. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it knows the number of patients who received radiological diagnostic services at CGAEH each year since the launch of the Pilot Programme, together with a breakdown by the hospital cluster to which the patients belonged;

(2) whether it knows the waiting situation for and the number of cases handled by HA’s radiology services in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown by hospital cluster;

(3) whether it knows the number of various types of medical equipment in CGAEH since its operation and the dates on which they were commissioned;

(4) whether it knows the existing and future medical services provided by CGAEH;

(5) whether it knows the patronage of the shuttle bus provided by HA for transportation to and from CGAEH in the past year; and

(6) as a member of the public who belongs to a hospital cluster outside the New Territories has told me that even though the Pilot Programme has now been extended to cover patients referred by all public hospitals in Hong Kong, he has not yet been arranged to receive radiological diagnostic services at CGAEH, whether the Government knows if there are similar cases; if there are, of the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     In consultation with the Hospital Authority (HA), the consolidated reply to the question raised by the Hon Judy Chan is as follows:

     The Central Government-Aided Emergency Hospital (the Emergency Hospital) located in the Lok Ma Chau Loop was commissioned for construction by the Central Government during the fifth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in Hong Kong and handed over to the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on December 30, 2022, for operation and management. With Hong Kong having returned to normalcy, the Government handed over the Emergency Hospital to the HA for planning of day hospital services, with the New Territories East Cluster (NTEC) tasked with the management and operation of the hospital, so as to make good use of resources gifted by the Central Government. The Government and the HA will dovetail with the progress and need of land use development in the Loop and continue to arrange optimal use of relevant resources.

     The HA subsequently launched the Ambulatory Diagnostic Radiology Service Pilot Programme (the Programme) in April 2023, with a view to shortening the waiting time of patients and alleviating the pressure on the radiology services of public hospitals. The Programme was first implemented in the NTEC and subsequently extended to patients of all public hospitals in Hong Kong. Under the Programme, various cluster hospitals actively select suitable patients who are waiting for investigations, including non-emergency and non-hospitalised patients with stable conditions who are self-ambulatory, and invite them to participate in the Programme on a voluntary basis, so that various clusters can make available resources to expedite handling of urgent cases with a view to shortening the waiting time. Invitations are issued by various cluster hospitals, rather than patients making applications themselves. Those who do not fulfil the above criteria will not receive invitations.

     As at the end of December 2024 since the inception of the Programme, more than 24 000, 5 300 and 5 600 patients have undergone Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Ultrasonography services in the Emergency Hospital respectively. The waiting time (median) of patients participating in the Programme (investigations undergone and appointments booked) has also improved, with the waiting time for CT patients shortened from 108 weeks to about 25 weeks (Note), that for MRI patients from 118 weeks to about 36 weeks (Note), and that for Ultrasonography patients from 165 weeks to about 56 weeks (Note). The number of patients receiving diagnostic radiology services in the Emergency Hospital by clusters is set out at Annex I. The HA’s waiting situation for radiological services and number of cases handled by clusters are set out at Annexes II and III.

     Apart from the above diagnostic radiological services, the HA has also progressively rolled out other services in the Emergency Hospital over the past year or so, including endoscopy, sleep study, microbiological tests and 25-hydroxyvitamin D analysis, and will commence intravitreal injection service with a view to optimising the use of medical facilities in the hospital. The quantity of major medical equipment in the Emergency Hospital and their commissioning dates are set out at Annex IV.

     To facilitate patients using the services, the Emergency Hospital provides free shuttle buses to transport patients between designated MTR stations and the hospital. Except public holidays, there are about 10 shuttle bus trips daily between Sheung Shui MTR station and the hospital from Mondays to Saturdays, and about eight shuttle bus trips daily between Yuen Long MTR station and the hospital, as well as between Siu Hong MTR station and the hospital on Tuesdays and Thursdays. At present, the monthly number of shuttle bus passenger exceeds 10 000.

Note: Waiting time is counted from when a patient joins the waiting list at a public hospital. read more

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Wednesday, March 19, 2025 is 106.3 (same as yesterday’s index). read more