The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, led a delegation to meet with the Director-General of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Mr Luo Zenggang, in Beijing today (October 16) to introduce the policy directions and latest measures for the development of Chinese medicine (CM) in Hong Kong, and explore deepening the co-operation between Beijing and Hong Kong in the CM field on various fronts.
      
     Professor Lo said, "The National 15th Five-Year Plan proposes advancing the inheritance and innovation of CM and promoting CM to go global. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government actively dovetails with the national strategies to promote comprehensive, high-quality, and high-standard development of CM. The HKSAR Government, for the first time, has formulated 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), comprehensively and proactively aligning with the National 15th Five-Year Plan. Interconnected with Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan, the 2026 Policy Address announced by the Chief Executive last month puts forward a number of specific policy measures to promote CM development. These include the launch of 24-hour in-patient services at The Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong (CMHHK) by 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. At the same time, with the Chinese Medicine Development Blueprint as an anchor, Hong Kong will continue to advance the development of CM in an orderly manner and leverage the two flagship institutions, CMHHK and the Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute, to further promote CM development in Hong Kong on all fronts."
      
     Professor Lo expressed his gratitude to the Beijing Municipal Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine for its continuous support for CM development in Hong Kong. He said he hoped that the two places would continue to deepen exchanges and collaboration in areas including CM policy measures, clinical services, talent cultivation, and the commercialisation of scientific and technological achievements, thereby promoting high-quality CM development in both places.
      
     The Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam, and the Controller-designate for Medical Products Regulation, Mr Li Zili, also attended the meeting. Professor Lo will lead a delegation tomorrow (October 17) to attend the World Conference on Traditional Medicine 2026 to be held in Beijing for two consecutive days, and will return to Hong Kong in the afternoon of October 18.

Ends/Friday, October 16, 2026
Issued at HKT 17:08

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