Chief Executive John Lee said today that the Government will take various measures, including strengthening primary healthcare services, in order to address the challenges brought by an ageing society.

While outlining such measures as he delivered his fourth Policy Address today, Mr Lee stressed that the Government will deepen the healthcare system reform, enhancing its sustainability, strengthening primary healthcare and increasing healthcare manpower, while promoting health and medical innovation and encouraging collaboration within the Greater Bay Area (GBA).

Specifically, the Hospital Authority (HA) will uphold the safety-first principle in delivering services, and advance the reform of governance and accountability; and establish dedicated teams and upgrade the electronic systems to process applications for medical fee waivers to help patients in need.

The charges and positioning of non-subsidised services will also be reviewed to offer more service options to members of the public who can afford more. 

To enhance existing public healthcare services, Mr Lee noted that the HA will establish, in phases, Stroke Centres and Integrated Cardiovascular Diseases Centres in accordance with national accreditation standards to improve treatment effectiveness.

It will also shorten waiting time by 10% or about 10 weeks, for stable new case bookings in the surgery specialty, and enhance ophthalmic services by strengthening training for professional personnel.

The authority will improve such services by strengthening training for professional personnel, introducing innovative medications and setting up a new high-capacity ambulatory cataract surgery centre.

The Hospital Accreditation Programme will be extended to cover a major acute hospital in each public hospital cluster, while contributing to the internationalisation of national hospital accreditation standards.

Other enhancements involve comprehensively upgrading the “Degenerative Knee Joint Management Programme” to promote early prevention and avoid progression to late-stage conditions that require surgical treatment.

On strengthening primary healthcare services, Mr Lee said the Government will introduce a bill within next year for the empowerment of the Primary Healthcare Commission, devising citywide standards for primary healthcare services, and developing multidisciplinary service networks.

Additionally, the Government plans to enhance the HA’s Family Medicine Outpatient preventive screening and care services, increase their service capacity, and regularise their current extended service hours progressively.

To enhance the management of chronic diseases, the Government will launch the Chronic Disease Co-care Platform on a pilot basis to conduct hepatitis B screening and promote the community drug formulary and community pharmacy programme.

It will also prepare to integrate the services of Elderly Health Centres into the district health network in phases, and expand the services of three District Health Centre Expresses, in order to expedite the establishment of District Health Centres (DHCs) across all 18 districts in the city.

In addition, the Government will bolster public and subsidised dental services by enhancing oral health education, oral hygiene instructions and risk assessments in the community through DHCs and non-governmental organisations.

To consolidate Hong Kong’s leading position in cancer research, prevention and control, and optimise services for cancer patients, the Government will collaborate with the National Cancer Center, and support the hosting of the World Cancer Congress 2026 in Hong Kong.

As part of that goal, Mr Lee explained that the Government will enhance cervical cancer screening services and expand the Pilot Scheme on Human Papillomavirus Testing of Self-collected Samples, from the Department of Health’s (DH) Maternal & Child Health Centres to the district health network.

The Government will commission local universities to explore the use of Artificial Intelligence-aided lung cancer screening, and enhance treatment efficacy and reduce side effects by expanding genetic and related testing services.

Furthermore, it will leverage cancer data and biological resources to advance oncology research, accelerate the development and translation of anticancer drugs and related innovative therapies, speed up the evaluation and approval of innovative anticancer drugs under the “1+” mechanism, and evaluate and introduce such drugs into the HA Drug Formulary.

In addition, the Government will increase the HA’s capacity of services and acquire additional medical equipment.

Regarding the development of Chinese medicine, Mr Lee noted that the Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong and the permanent premises of the Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute will begin operation in phases from December this year. 

The Chinese Medicine Development Blueprint, scheduled to be published by the end of this year, will cover establishing a governance framework and service system, leveraging strengths and advancing Integrated Chinese Western Medicine services, promoting scientific research and innovation, cultural heritage and more.

The Government will strengthen the DH’s functions in regulating healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals.

It will consult the Legislative Council (LegCo) in the first half of next year on the implementation of the Private Healthcare Facilities Ordinance to prohibit unauthorised premises from using certain titles or descriptions. It will also step up law enforcement against unlicensed persons.

On promoting mental health, the Government will roll out measures covering prevention, identification, intervention and treatment.

Among such measures, the Government will regularise the three-tier emergency mechanism in secondary schools and extend it on a trial basis to Primary 4 to 6 students to strengthen support for those in need; and launch the Pilot Programme on Training for Mental Health Promotion Ambassador.

Moreover, the Government will complete the formulation of the stepped care model on mental health by the end of this year. Mr Lee pointed out that this model aims to set out the roles of mental health professionals and stakeholders as well as their division of work in mental health services, enhance training to raise professionals’ awareness of making referrals, and establish the referral mechanism.

Concerning nurturing a green and low carbon living environment, the Government will continue to optimise the service hours and locations of GREEN@COMMUNITY facilities, and support recycling initiatives in residential buildings.

It will also keep promoting waste separation in public rental housing estates, and work towards the goal of “one bin per block” in these estates.

I·PARK1 will progressively begin operation by the end of this year. To expand the city’s waste-to-energy capacity, the Government plans to seek funding approval from LegCo next year for constructing I·PARK2.

On top of that, the Chief Executive highlighted that Hong Kong will take part in developing the GBA into an international, first-class beautiful bay area, with Victoria Harbour as the core for development together with Mirs Bay and Port Shelter.

The Government will also take forward measures on the prevention and control of nearshore pollution, co-ordinated protection of ecosystems and shoreline remediation, he added.