Health secretary advances HK's medical innovation hub vision in talks with Hainan delegation

The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, met with a delegation of Hainan Province led by Vice Governor of the People's Government of Hainan Province Ms Xie Jing today (Oct. 17) and introduced to them the multiple initiatives on developing Hong Kong into an international health and medical innovation hub as set out in "The Chief Executive's 2024 Policy Address" newly announced as well as the progress of Hospital Accreditation of public hospitals in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) through the adoption of the China's International Hospital Accreditation Standards (2021 Version) (the Standards). The two parties also explored room for collaboration on healthcare aspects.

At the meeting, Professor Lo updated the delegation with the latest development of Hong Kong's healthcare policy, including complementing technological innovation with institutional innovation through expediting the reform of the approval mechanism for drugs and medical devices, and strengthening research and development and translation of biomedical technology put forward in "The Chief Executive's 2024 Policy Address". The HKSAR Government will support innovation and application of advanced biomedical technology, with a view to attracting the world's top-notch biomedical enterprises and research organizations to set up operations in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the HKSAR Government will continue to actively promote the adoption of the Standards by more public hospitals for accreditation, including extending the adoption of relevant Standards in the coming year to two to three public hospitals other than Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital, with a view to ensuring that the management and service levels, as well as healthcare quality of local hospitals, are on par with international standards. The participation of public hospitals in the accreditation program can serve as a demonstration to the international community the national hospital accreditation standards, with Hong Kong acting as a gateway to facilitate the national standards to go global. In this connection, both parties also explored ways to further encourage more hospitals in the two places to pursue accreditation under the Standards so as to amplify the impact of the Standards.

Professor Lo emphasized, "The HKSAR Government has long been reinforcing co-operation on healthcare service developments with various Mainland provinces and cities under the principle of complementarity and mutual benefits, and on the premise of benefitting the healthcare development of both the Mainland and Hong Kong to level up the healthcare quality. Looking ahead, we will remain committed to fostering cross-boundary medical cooperation so as to propel the important national strategy of 'Healthy China' through concerted contributions."

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