Hospital Authority commences recruitment of Chief Executive
The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) Board today (January 23) discussed and endorsed at its Administrative and Operational Meeting the commencement of recruitment of a new HA Chief Executive. The incumbent Chief Executive, Dr Tony Ko, had earlier indicated to the HA Chairman, Mr Henry Fan, his wish to not seek reappointment upon completion of his current contract at the end of July this year.
"Dr Ko has served the HA with utmost dedication since his appointment as the Chief Executive in 2019. He had earlier expressed his wish to embark on a new chapter in life after his term expires at the end of July. He intends to leverage his extensive experience of over three decades in the public healthcare system to continue contributing and serving society through other platforms, and therefore decided not to seek reappointment as the HA Chief Executive," Mr Fan said.
"It is with much regret that, despite my numerous attempts to persuade him to stay in the past few months, Dr Ko has decided to start a new chapter in his life after the contract expires. Both the HA Board and I deeply regret but fully respect his final decision. We are extremely grateful for his decade-long dedication and commitment to public hospitals for the well-being of patients and Hong Kong society. Dr Ko's contribution is pivotal to the long-term development of the HA and the public healthcare system. We wish him the very best in his future endeavours as he continues to contribute to the medical profession."
Dr Ko said, "Serving patients in public hospitals has been my lifelong honour. I am also very grateful that, during my tenure as the Chief Executive in the past six years, we have overcome various challenges together. Under the leadership of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, we defeated the COVID-19 epidemic. After the resumption of normalcy, we worked together for Hong Kong to maintain its leading role in the international healthcare field, strengthening connections and exchanges with the healthcare systems on the Mainland and with other regions. Meanwhile, we vigorously promoted the development of smart hospital initiatives for more patients to benefit from the technology. All these outstanding achievements could have only been accomplished with our concerted efforts. I would also like to sincerely thank the Health Bureau, all HA Chairmen, particularly the incumbent Chairman, Mr Henry Fan, all HA Board Members, as well as all HA staff, whose unstinting support has enabled us to overcome all difficulties together."
On the recruitment exercise, the HA Board has appointed a Selection Board to advise on the details of the overall recruitment and selection process, including the recommendation of the proposed remuneration for the successful candidate. The HA will engage a search firm for the recruitment exercise. It is expected that the recruitment exercise will be completed within the next six months to allow adequate time for the new Chief Executive to have a smooth handover with Dr Ko.
Results of monthly survey on business situation of small and medium-sized enterprises for January 2025
The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (February 11) the results of the Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) for January 2025.
The current diffusion index (DI) on business receipts amongst SMEs decreased from 43.9 in December 2024 in the contractionary zone to 43.1 in January 2025, whereas the one-month's ahead (i.e. February 2025) outlook DI on business receipts was 43.8. Analysed by sector, the current DIs on business receipts for many surveyed sectors dropped in January 2025 as compared with previous month, particularly for the logistics (from 42.4 to 38.5) and business services (from 48.4 to 45.6).
The current DI on new orders for the import and export trades decreased from 46.5 in December 2024 to 46.1 in January 2025, whereas the outlook DI on new orders in one month's time (i.e. February 2025) was 46.9.
Commentary
A Government spokesman said that overall business sentiment among SMEs and their expectations on the business situation in one month's time eased back alongside increased uncertainties in the external environment in January. Yet, the overall employment situation remained stable.
The spokesman added that uncertainties in the global economy would continue to pose challenges to the business environment. Nevertheless, the Central Government's various measures to boost the Mainland economy and benefit Hong Kong, as well as the Special Administrative Region Government's initiatives to lift market sentiment and promote economic development should provide support to business sentiment. The Government will monitor the situation closely.
Further information
The Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises aims to provide a quick reference, with minimum time lag, for assessing the short-term business situation faced by SMEs. SMEs covered in this survey refer to establishments with fewer than 50 persons engaged. Respondents were asked to exclude seasonal fluctuations in reporting their views. Based on the views collected from the survey, a set of diffusion indices (including current and outlook diffusion indices) is compiled. A reading above 50 indicates that the business condition is generally favourable, whereas that below 50 indicates otherwise. As for statistics on the business prospects of prominent establishments in Hong Kong, users may refer to the publication entitled "Report on Quarterly Business Tendency Survey" released by the C&SD.
The results of the survey should be interpreted with care. The survey solicits feedback from a panel sample of about 600 SMEs each month and the survey findings are thus subject to sample size constraint. Views collected from the survey refer only to those of respondents on their own establishments rather than those on the respective sectors they are engaged in. Besides, in this type of opinion survey on expected business situation, the views collected in the survey are affected by the events in the community occurring around the time of enumeration, and it is difficult to establish precisely the extent to which respondents' perception of the business situation accords with the underlying trends. For this survey, main bulk of the data were collected around the last week of the reference month.
More detailed statistics are given in the "Report on Monthly Survey on the Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises". Users can browse and download the publication at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1080015&scode=300).
Users who have enquiries about the survey results may contact Industrial Production Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7246; email: sme-survey@censtatd.gov.hk).