The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, this afternoon (July 6) visited the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Medical Centre which commenced operation early this year and learned more about the university's development plan in medical and healthcare aspects.

     Accompanied by the Vice-Chancellor and President of the CUHK, Professor Rocky Tuan and the Chief Executive Officer of the CUHK Medical Centre, Dr Fung Hong, Mrs Lam visited various facilities of the Medical Centre including the main pharmacy, the Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Centre and hospital wards, and received a briefing by persons-in-charge on hospital operation and services. At the moment, the CUHK Medical Centre mainly provides out-patient and day services. There are now some 80 hospital beds and it will increase to more than 500 by phases. The Medical Centre will also collaborate with the Hospital Authority to assist in handling specialist out-patient new cases and day procedure cases of public hospitals to alleviate the burden of the public healthcare system. In addition, the CUHK Medical Centre is now one of the Community Vaccination Centres commissioned by the Government. Mrs Lam expressed her gratitude for the Medical Centre's support for the Government Vaccination Programme.

     Mrs Lam said that she was pleased to learn the positioning of the CUHK Medical Centre as a smart hospital, in which innovation and technology (I&T) has been widely used in healthcare procedures and hospital operations to improve treatment effectiveness and enhance efficiency. They range from automated drug dispensing and unit dose dispensing for in-patients, a fully electronic and paperless medical record system, a treatment process supported by real-time data, to a management system established with the application of the Internet of Things as well as hospital beds equipped with information panels facilitating Internet access, tele-visits, tele-consultations, etc.

     "Healthcare services, I&T development and higher education are all Hong Kong's competitive strengths. The current-term Government has been pressing ahead with I&T development, with innovative healthcare and healthcare technology among our focus areas. Of the two InnoHK research clusters in the Hong Kong Science Park, 'Health@InnoHK' is one of them specialising in healthcare technology. I am pleased to note that the CUHK has collaborated with renowned overseas scientific research institutions to take part in 'Health@InnoHK'. In addition, CUHK Medical Centre's development as a smart hospital is in line with the Government policy in promoting a smart city. It can serve as an application platform for locally developed healthcare technologies, in particular for start-ups," Mrs Lam said.

     After the visit, Mrs Lam was briefed on CUHK's development plan in medical and healthcare aspects, including the the CUHK-Shenzhen School of Medicine which is being established. She noted that the CUHK-Shenzhen School of Medicine will enroll the first cohort of students in September this year and will set up a teaching hospital in Shenzhen with 3 000 beds. She said she believed that the School will help nurture more professional talents to propel the development of the healthcare industry in the Greater Bay Area.

Ends/Tuesday, July 6, 2021
Issued at HKT 21:28

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