Following are the remarks made by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, at a media session after attending a radio programme this morning (August 23):
 
Reporter: Regarding the Consumer Council's report on tele-health, is the current mechanism in regulating medical staff enough in terms of protecting patients seeking such services and what should patients also be aware of? Secondly, with the expansion of regulation towards more public areas on smoking that would start tomorrow, what does the government hope to achieve and what is expected in the next stage? 
 
Secretary for Health: Regarding the Consumer Council's report on tele-medicine, tele-medicine involves not only patient consultation but also communication between professional bodies and also education training etc. Focusing on the issue of patients' consultation via electronic media or even online, I would like to highlight the importance of the quality and safety in healthcare services. Tele-medicine is medicine, and a tele-consultation is a medical consultation. So, I would like to remind our citizens that when they have a health issue and want to seek healthcare advice, they should ensure that whether they see the doctor personally in person or via electronic media, they have to ensure that the person concerned is a qualified registered practitioner, whether is a Western medicine doctor or a Chinese medicine practitioner. In Hong Kong, we have measures and legislations that regulate the provision of healthcare services; and relevant professional bodies and councils have already issued guidelines to ensure that the practice of medicine via electronic means will follow the guidelines and ensure that patient safety and quality will be safeguarded.  
 
     About tobacco control, we have put in the bill to Legislative Council for amending the tobacco control ordinance and we are going to have the second and third reading in September. We are confident that we will have the support from the Legislative Council. The whole exercise of the amendment actually started almost two years ago in 2023 when we started the public consultation and we had overwhelming support from the whole city. Over 90 per cent of the respondents supported more measures to control and reduce our smoking rate, so as to ensure the health of our citizens. Over the last two years, we have also heard the opinion from various stakeholders and made appropriate amendments, in order to ensure that all these measures will be safely and effectively implemented. The more important thing is about flavoured tobacco products — we will start with the non-mint flavoured tobacco, and we will put in all these measures in a timely manner. 
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Saturday, August 23, 2025
Issued at HKT 13:37

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