(D) Healthcare

226. To address the challenges brought by an ageing society, increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and pressure on healthcare resources, the Government will deepen healthcare system reform, enhancing its sustainability, strengthening primary healthcare and increasing healthcare manpower, while promoting health and medical innovation and encouraging collaboration within the GBA.

Enhance the Public Healthcare System

227. The HA will enhance the safety, quality and efficiency of public healthcare services, uphold the safety-first principle in delivering services, and advance the reform of governance and accountability. Dedicated teams will be established and the electronic systems upgraded to process applications for medical fee waivers to help patients in need. The charges and positioning of non-subsidised services will be reviewed to offer more service options to members of the public who can afford more. Existing public healthcare services will also be enhanced. Relevant measures include establishing, in phases, Stroke Centres and Integrated Cardiovascular Diseases Centres in accordance with national accreditation standards to improve treatment effectiveness; shortening waiting time by 10% (about 10 weeks) for stable new case bookings in the specialty of Surgery; enhancing ophthalmic services by strengthening training for professional personnel, introducing innovative medications and setting up a new high-capacity ambulatory cataract surgery centre; extending the Hospital Accreditation Programme to cover a major acute hospital in each public hospital cluster, while contributing to the internationalisation of national hospital accreditation standards; and comprehensively upgrading the "Degenerative Knee Joint Management Programme" to promote early prevention and avoid progression to late-stage conditions that require surgical treatment.

Healthcare Manpower Development

228. Last year, the Policy Address announced the plan to establish a third medical school. Over the past year, the Task Group on New Medical School has completed an overall assessment of the proposals prepared by expert advisors and is conducting a detailed study of the funding arrangements and financial sustainability of the proposals. The task group will make its final recommendation to the Government by the end of this year.

229. We will support the hosting of national or international medical and healthcare conferences in Hong Kong. The HA will also launch a Talent Chain Project to build a collaborative platform integrating clinical services, teaching and research.

Strengthen Primary Healthcare Services

230. The Government will enhance community healthcare and disease prevention by:

(i) Introduce a bill within next year for the empowerment of the Primary Healthcare Commission (PHC Commission), devising city-wide standards for primary healthcare services, and developing multidisciplinary service networks.

(ii) Enhance the HA's Family Medicine Out-patient preventive screening and care services, increase their service capacity and regularise their current extended service hours progressively.

(iii) 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, to enhance the management of chronic diseases.

(iv) 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, to expedite the establishment of District Health Centres (DHCs) across all 18 districts in Hong Kong.

(v) 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 (NGOs).

Enhance Cancer Prevention, Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment

231. The Government will consolidate Hong Kong's leading position in cancer research, prevention and control, optimising services for cancer patients by:

(i) Collaborate with the National Cancer Center.¹⁵ 

(ii) Support the hosting of the World Cancer Congress 2026 in Hong Kong.

(iii) Enhance cervical cancer screening services and expand the Pilot Scheme on Human Papillomavirus Testing of Self-collected Samples from the Maternal and Child Health Centres (MCHCs) under the Department of Health (DH) to the district health network.

(iv) Enhance cancer screening technologies through commissioning local universities to explore the use of AI-aided lung cancer screening.

(v) Enhance treatment efficacy and reduce side effects by expanding genetic and related testing services.

(vi) 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 "1+" mechanism, and evaluate and introduce these drugs into the HA Drug Formulary.

(vii) Increase the HA's capacity of services and acquire additional medical equipment.

Promote the Development of Chinese Medicine

232. The Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong (CMHHK) and the permanent premises of the Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute will begin operation in phases from December this year. The Government will boost the promotion of Chinese medicine (CM), contributing to the nation's promotion of CM internationally. Relevant measures include:

(i) Publish the Chinese Medicine Development Blueprint by the end of the year. The blueprint will cover establishing a governance framework and service system, leveraging strengths and advancing Integrated Chinese Western Medicine (ICWM) services, promoting scientific research and innovation, cultural heritage and more.

(ii) Roll out a range of CM services for special diseases by the CMHHK in its first year, including degenerative diseases, stroke rehabilitation and other common diseases among the elderly.

(iii) Promote the sharing of electronic health records (eHRs) in the CM sector through eHealth, and expand the sharable scope of eHRs on eHealth between CM and western medicine practitioners.

(iv) Develop ICWM services by expanding the HA's "knee osteoarthritis" programme to all hospital clusters, and commencing the "palliative care" pilot programme.

Strengthen Professional Regulation of Healthcare Services

233. The Government will strengthen the functions of the DH in regulating healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals. It will consult the 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.

Mental Health

234. Through a strategy of identification, intervention and treatment, the Government places great importance on the public's mental health and has introduced a Three-tier School-based Emergency Mechanism. We also place equal emphasis to prevention, which involves building families, friendships and interpersonal networks; focusing on the development of interests and personality; and creating supportive environments in schools and workplaces. All these initiatives require joint efforts, bringing together the Government, the community and families, as well as professional support and treatment when needed. The Government will enhance nine measures in the following aspects:

(i) Regularise the three-tier emergency mechanism in secondary schools and extend it on a trial basis to Primary Four to Six students to strengthen support for those in need.

(ii) Utilise the Dedicated Fund for subvented welfare service organisations, providing training to enhance school social workers' capabilities in handling students' mental health issues.

(iii) Step up the promotion of mental health in the community through the 4Rs Mental Health Charter¹⁶ in primary and secondary schools and the Mental Health Workplace Charter¹⁷, encouraging more school staff to receive training related to mental health first aid. A "special recognition category" will be introduced to commend schools and organisations that arrange a specific number of staff members to receive mental health training (e.g. mental health first aid).

(iv) Launch the Pilot Programme on Training for Mental Health Promotion Ambassador to mobilise and train mental health promotion ambassadors to promote healthy lifestyles, foster resilience and establish care support networks.

(v) Social media has profound impacts on the mental health of children and adolescents. The DH will update relevant guidelines to mitigate the impact of social media on the health of children and adolescents.

(vi) Basic mental health programme has already been made a compulsory subject for first-year students in some tertiary institutions, with related support provided for students in need. The Government will encourage more institutions to promote mental health on campus.

(vii) Currently, three DHCs provide free mental-health assessments and arrange follow-up services under the Healthy Mind Pilot Project, producing satisfactory results. The Government will extend the project in 2026 to cover six more DHCs, with follow-up services to be provided by practitioners with an academic background and training in fields such as psychology or counselling.

(viii) Leverage technologies to enhance mental health services. Initiatives include strengthening telehealth services for psychiatric day hospitals and outreach services to provide suitable patients with more convenient service options, and enhancing the text counselling platform for online emotional support and the Cyber Youth Support Teams of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) by strengthening AI application for more precise identification of high-risk targets in need of support.

(ix) Complete the formulation of the stepped care model on mental health by the end of this year, setting out the roles of mental health professionals and stakeholders, as well as their division of work in mental health services, enhancing training to raise professionals' awareness of making referrals, and establishing the referral mechanism.

(E) Green and Low -arbon Living Environment

Develop Hong Kong into a Demonstration Base for Green Technology

235. We will promote the commercialisation of green I&T outcomes. Relevant measures include supporting the market development of technologies for battery-swapping EVs and automated battery-swapping stations, encouraging the construction of district cooling systems by non-government entities, and driving the market to accelerate carbon reduction in existing buildings.

Enhance Charging Networks for Electric Vehicles

236. We have launched a $300 million Fast Charger Incentive Scheme, with an additional 3 000 fast chargers to be provided by the end of 2028. The Government also plans to roll out six sites for the provision of fast charging stations, while bus operators will open up their charging facilities for use by other vehicles.
Reduce and Recycle Waste to Achieve "Zero Landfill"

237. The disposal rate of municipal solid waste has been declining for the past three years. The Government will continue to optimise service hours and locations of GREEN@COMMUNITY facilities, support recycling initiatives in residential buildings, and promote waste separation in PRH estates. The Government continues to increase the number of food waste smart recycling bins and collection facilities in residential areas this year, working towards the goal of "one bin per block" in PRH estates.

238. I·PARK1¹⁸ will progressively begin operation by the end of this year. To expand our waste-to-energy capacity, the Government will seek funding approval from the LegCo next year for the construction of I·PARK2. Hong Kong's first modern recycled paper-pulping facility, located at EcoPark, will begin trial operation by the end of this year.

Jointly Develop the Greater Bay Area into a Beautiful Bay Area

239. 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. We will take forward measures on the prevention and control of nearshore pollution, co-ordinated protection of ecosystems and shoreline remediation to support the initiative of developing Beautiful Bays¹⁹ advocated in our country's 14th Five Year Plan.

(F) Support the Local Economy

Support Small and Medium Enterprises

240. Hong Kong is home to some 360 000 SMEs, and they are the pillars of our economic development. To better cope with the city's economic restructuring, the Government will introduce the following 11 measures to enhance support for SMEs:

(i) Extend the application period for the 80% Guarantee Product under the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme for two years, and further extend the principal moratorium arrangement for one year. The Government will also encourage banks to continue to adopt an accommodating and more flexible approach when processing loans by enterprises with sound repayment ability.

(ii) Provide concessions of fees and charges to alleviate pressure on business operations. The Government will reduce water and sewage charges for non-domestic accounts by 50%, subject to a monthly ceiling of $10,000 and $5,000 respectively per account. About 260 000 non-domestic accounts are expected to benefit from the measure. We will also reduce the trade effluent surcharge by 50%, which is expected to benefit about 35 000 businesses mainly in the catering industry. In addition, fees for the first issue or renewal of licences and permits, including those for hawkers, food businesses, agriculture and fisheries industries and liquor licences²⁰ will be waived, which is expected to benefit over 60 000 licensees. The above measures will be implemented for one year.

(iii) Considering that the original estimate for the Government's average annual capital works expenditure in the coming five years was about $120 billion, we will earmark an additional $30 billion in the next two to three years to increase expenditure on works projects driving sustained economic development, to support the local construction industry.

(iv) In streamlining the restaurant licensing regime, new operators with provisional licences are currently allowed to begin business while seeking to complete their formal licence application. Such arrangement of "licence first, inspection later" has further expedited approval procedures whereas simplified administrative procedures have enabled new operators of restaurants that have changed hands to start business even sooner.

     To further expedite the approval process of applications for outside seating accommodation (OSA) of restaurants, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will adopt a new way by proactively co-ordinating various relevant departments to undergo "joint-vetting" to resolve the matter together, and when necessary, escalate the process regarding complicated applications to the relevant Permanent Secretary or even the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration for steer; at the same time, the procedures will be streamlined, including adopting standardised Government rent for OSA, and allowing some applications to proceed without the requirement for increasing kitchen area and bathroom facilities. As for applications involving walkways with a remaining width of three metres or more after the provision of OSA, they will generally be considered as meeting the basic traffic requirements and do not have to be reviewed case-by-case.

(v) Inject $1.43 billion into the BUD Fund²¹ and expand its geographical scope to cover eight more economies, including B&R countries. We will also enhance promotion and facilitate the participation of companies in exhibitions and export marketing activities through "Easy BUD".

(vi) Increase financing support for local e-commerce businesses and expanding the coverage of free buyer credit checks through the Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation.

(vii) Set up the "Economic and Trade Express", joining the efforts of ETOs and overseas offices of InvestHK and the HKTDC to form a functional platform, encouraging local SMEs and start-ups to conduct more overseas visits exploring business opportunities, while bringing in more enterprises to invest in and establish businesses in Hong Kong.

(viii) Enhance Cyberport's Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme to provide SMEs with subsidies, on a matching basis, to empower enterprises to apply AI and cybersecurity solutions, boosting their competitiveness and information security.

(ix) Support the continued organisation of the Hong Kong Shopping Festival, covering the Mainland and ASEAN e-commerce markets over the next three years to promote Hong Kong brands.

(x) Strengthen training and information services through the four SME centres, the Mentorship Programme of the Trade and Industry Department and the E Commerce Express under the HKTDC. We will also implement the "Creativity • Ecommerce – Beyond Limits" programme and provide one-stop business matching and referral services to strengthen the interface between Hong Kong enterprises and e-commerce service providers, enhancing the competitiveness of Hong Kong products on cross-border e-commerce platforms.

(xi) Launch a two-year pilot scheme to support local small and medium I&T enterprises with patent evaluation.²² 

Economic Diversification

Develop the Food Industry

241. As a brand, "Food from Hong Kong" enjoys a good reputation. Apart from facilitating the sale of such food to the Mainland, the Government has also reserved land near the Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point to promote the food industry, including wholesale, processing and trading. In the long run, it may develop into a food industrial park to promote "food production + tourism".

242. The Government will strengthen the competitiveness of local produce, introducing a unified brand for local agricultural and fisheries products in mid-2026 to enhance product awareness and brand value.

Promote the Development of the Agriculture and Fisheries Industries

243. The marine economy has enormous potential, and fisheries is among its components. The Government will issue culture licenses for new fish culture zones and provide deep-sea cages for rental by the fisheries industry, to increase local mariculture production by tenfold within 15 years. Modernised aquaculture will also be promoted.

244. The Government will facilitate the livestock sector to construct the first environmentally-friendly, multi-storey pig farm, in Lo Wu. It will also take forward the Agricultural Park Phase 2 development, and promote leisure farming and fisheries.

Promote a Pet-friendly Culture

245. According to government statistics, more than 240 000 households in Hong Kong keep more than 400 000 cats and dogs as pets, generating an enormous consumption market, including food and products, healthcare, insurance, grooming, training and more. In recent years, the business sector and transport operators have developed pet-friendly premises and travel arrangements. The Government supports the business sector in offering pet-friendly spaces to create new opportunities.

246. The Government will introduce a licensing arrangement allowing operators to let dogs enter their food premises. Clear signage will be put up by permitted restaurants, so that customers know dogs are allowed. Pet-friendly restaurants will create new business opportunities for the industry.

¹⁵ The Government will sign a co-operation framework agreement with the National Cancer Center to deepen collaboration in basic cancer research, screening, early diagnosis and treatment, big data application, public education outreach and other areas.

¹⁶ The "4Rs" in the 4Rs Mental Health Charter cover four elements and objectives for promoting mental health, which include

(1) Rest: Help students cultivate healthy habits from an early age including having enough rest, adequate sleep and leisure activities.

(2) Relaxation: Teach students to take the time to relax, take care of their mental health and practise self compassion.

(3) Relationship: Strengthen the relationships among students, teachers and students, as well as parents and children, so as to enhance their sense of connectedness; help students understand their roles and their importance in these relationships, so as to willingly take on responsibilities and make contributions.

(4) Resilience: Equip students to adapt to the inevitable stress and setbacks in life, and teach students to deal with emotions, cope with stress and overcome difficulties with a positive attitude.

¹⁷ As part of the "Shall We Talk" initiative on mental health promotion and public education, the Mental Health Workplace Charter aims to promote mental health in workplace, objectives include to promote mental well-being at workplace including a respectful and positive environment; promote active listening and communication, encourage help-seeking, and facilitate early identification of mental distress and timely treatment; and create an inclusive and friendly workplace environment for colleagues with mental distress.

¹⁸ I·PARK1 and I·PARK2, located on an artificial island off Shek Kwu Chau and at Tsang Tsui, Tuen Mun respectively, are waste-to-energy (electric energy) facilities, generating electricity by processing municipal solid waste.

¹⁹ The development of Beautiful Bays is an important means of marine ecological environment protection for our country and an integral part of building a Beautiful China in the maritime area. "Pristine water and beaches, thriving marine life, and harmonious co-existence between humans and the sea" is the aim of the overall enhancement in ecological environment quality. It is being realised through actions such as improvements in quality and effectiveness, the rehabilitation of ecosystems and the remediation of effluent discharge outlets, striving to transform 283 marine bays throughout China into beautiful bays by 2035.

²⁰ Food business licences, including provisional ones (if applicable), cover the General Restaurant Licence, the Light Refreshment Restaurant Licence, the Marine Restaurant Licence, the Bakery Licence, the Cold Store Licence, the Factory Canteen Licence, the Food Factory Licence, the Fresh Provision Shop Licence, the Frozen Confection Factory Licence, the Milk Factory Licence, the Siu Mei and Lo Mei Shop Licence, the Restricted Food Permit and the Composite Restricted Foods Permit. As for licences related to the agriculture and fisheries industries, they include the Marine Fish Culture Licence and the Livestock Keeping Licence.

²¹ Referring to the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales.

²² The relevant measure is also stipulated under Chapter VII "(C) Regional Intellectual Property Trading Centre".

(To be continued.)

Ends/Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Issued at HKT 13:30

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