The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, led a delegation to attend the 8th Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) Conference on Inheritance, Innovation and Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine held in Macao today (September 22) to have in-depth exchanges on the inheritance and innovation, talent cultivation, and industry transformation of Chinese medicine (CM) with the Vice Minister of the National Health Commission and Commissioner of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Mr Liu Jinfeng, and health officials from the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), Guangdong Province and cities in the GBA, as well as experts and representatives from the CM sectors.

     Speaking at the opening ceremony, Professor Lo elaborated on the direction of advancing the development of CM set out in the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2026-2030) (Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan) and the 2026 Policy Address recently announced by the Chief Executive. He said, "The National 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly proposes advancing the inheritance and innovation of CM and promoting CM to go global. Hong Kong is proactively aligning with the overall national development, and the Chief Executive has proposed in Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan to promote comprehensive, high-quality, and high-standard development of CM; to make good use of CM to provide Hong Kong citizens with higher-quality and more comprehensive healthcare services for better health outcomes by inheriting the wisdom of CM and leveraging our country's development experience and resources; and to strive to establish Hong Kong as a bridgehead for the global expansion of CM by participating in developing international CM standards with a view to extending the benefits of Chinese medicine services and products to more countries."

     The two flagship institutions for CM development, namely The Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong (CMHHK) and the Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute (GCMTI), which commenced services last year, enhance Hong Kong's role in promoting collaboration in the GBA and the country's high-quality development of CM, as well as in serving as a bridgehead for CM's global expansion. Professor Lo added, "The 2026 Policy Address sets out a number of initiatives, including the launch of 24-hour in-patient services at CMHHK starting from the end of this year, the establishment of the International Consortium of Herb-Drug Interaction, the continued development of the Hospital Authority's integrated Chinese-Western Medicine services, and the sponsoring of regional and international CM conferences and exhibitions, signifying more breakthroughs and opportunities ahead for the development of CM in Hong Kong."

     The Hong Kong SAR Government will progressively implement various initiatives under the Chinese Medicine Development Blueprint in accordance with the guiding principles of Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan, contributing its utmost efforts to promote the inheritance, innovation and development of CM.

     The Conference was co-organised by the Traditional Chinese Medicine Bureau of Guangdong Province, the Health Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government (HHB) and the Health Bureau of the Macao SAR Government. Representatives from Hong Kong took part in the plenary forum, as well as the keynote session and roundtable discussion of parallel forums, introducing to attendees the latest developments in areas such as CM policy development, CM regulation and standard setting, clinical CM practices, and the integrated Chinese-Western medicine services in Hong Kong, along with the latest progress of CMHHK and the GCMTI.

     Members of the Hong Kong delegation included the Controller of Regulatory Affairs of the Department of Health, Dr Fung Ying; the Project Director of the Chinese Medicine Hospital Project Office of the HHB, Dr Cheung Wai-lun; and the Chief Executive of the Hospital Authority, Dr Libby Lee. The Chairperson of the Board of Directors of CMHHK Operator, Mr Wong Kwai-huen, and the Hospital Chief Executive of CMHHK, Professor Bian Zhaoxiang, also joined the delegation for the Conference.

Ends/Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:15

NNNN