The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, met with a delegation led by Vice Mayor of the Guangzhou Municipal People’s Government Mr Lai Zhihong today (March 4) to discuss the deepening of medical co-operation between Hong Kong and Guangzhou.
      
     At the meeting, both sides exchanged views on various cross-boundary medical collaboration measures, including the implementation progress of the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme (Pilot Scheme), the cross-boundary use of electronic health records supported by the eHealth mobile application and strengthening the exchanges between healthcare professionals of the two places, which have laid the foundation for further collaboration in the future.

     Professor Lo said, "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government attaches great importance to cross-boundary medical collaboration, and has been continuously exploring the collaboration in multiple areas and aspects of healthcare, with a view to continuously enhancing the regional advantage of healthcare professions of Hong Kong as well as the entire Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), thereby benefitting the residents in the region.
      
     "In this regard, the Health Bureau is actively pressing ahead with the extension of the Pilot Scheme to cover nine Mainland cities in the GBA as set out in the 'The Chief Executive's 2024 Policy Address', with the aim of announcing relevant details in the first half of this year. In addition, we will fully utilise the eHealth platform to expand the sharing of cross-boundary medical records.

     "I have every confidence that under the guidance of key policies such as the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the National 14th Five-Year Plan, as well as the Resolution of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, Hong Kong and Guangzhou will take forward healthcare integration and innovation in the GBA through concerted efforts in accordance with the principles of complementarity and mutual benefits, thereby contributing to the needs of national development."
      
     The Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam, as well as officials from the Health Bureau and the Department of Health, also attended the meeting today. 

Ends/Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Issued at HKT 17:44

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