Paul Chan Visits Companies in Beijing, Promotes Hong Kong as Global Business Hub

FS visits companies in Beijing

​The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, who is currently in Beijing, made visits to a number of companies today (March 22). He will also attend the dinner of the China Development Forum this evening.

In the morning, Mr Chan visited a leading pop cultural entertainment company on the Mainland. This company, listed in Hong Kong, operates several popular intellectual property (IP) artistic toys that are well-received both domestically and globally. Mr Chan visited the company's thematic park and met with its senior management to understand their business status and development plans. He expressed his pleasure that the company, as a leading cultural and creative enterprise, has successfully used Hong Kong as a platform to enter both regional and global markets. He welcomed the company's plans to establish more physical sales networks in Hong Kong and to diversify its services. Mr Chan pointed out that to promote the development of Hong Kong as a regional intellectual property trading centre, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has proposed in the Budget to review the tax deduction arrangements for acquiring IP usage rights, etc., with a view to driving the further development of the relevant industries and ecosystem. He also encouraged the company to fully leverage Hong Kong's advantages in funding, talent and professional services by establishing its international business headquarters and corporate treasury centre in Hong Kong to support their global business development.

Mr Chan then visited another company focused on the research and development of high-precision artificial intelligence products. Their intelligent sensing solutions are widely applied in smart traffic management, self-driving, perception robots and the low-altitude economy. They have been adopted by several cities across the country, including Beijing and Shanghai. The company is planning to establish its international business headquarters and global research and development (R&D) centre in Hong Kong, and is preparing for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Mr Chan viewed the company's latest high-end products and engaged in in-depth discussions with the company's senior executives and R&D team. He encouraged them to bring their R&D teams and more technological solutions to Hong Kong, and to utilise Hong Kong's international capital, talent and professional services to further expand their business into other markets in the world.

Mr Chan will attend the China Development Forum tomorrow (March 23) and will speak at a thematic seminar during the forum.

FS visits companies in Beijing Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

FS visits companies in Beijing Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

FS visits companies in Beijing Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

FS visits companies in Beijing Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Hospital Authority clarifies untruthful remarks regarding patients collecting medications

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

The Hospital Authority (HA) clarifies the untruthful remarks regarding patients collecting medications today (April 24) as follows:

Through reforming the subsidisation structure of the public healthcare service, the fees and charges reform aims to guide the public to make optimal use of healthcare resources, reduce wastage and abuse, and enhance healthcare protection for the four categories of "poor, acute, serious, critical" patients, based on the principle of 'co-payment by those who can afford and co-payment by those with mild conditions'. The reform will thereby enhance the sustainability of the healthcare system in response to challenges such as an ageing population and the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, and serve as a safety net for all. After the implementation of the reform, the Government maintains a high level of subsidisation of up to 95 per cent for public healthcare services, with citizens co-paying a very low proportion of the cost.

The spokesperson for the HA said that, having analysed data from the pharmacies of public hospitals and clinics, the HA considers that recent allegation that patients have not collected medications following the implementation of the fees and charges reform does not accord with the facts.

The HA emphasised that, in the course of consultation and drug prescription, doctors will ascertain patients' medication profiles, including their medication habits and the quantity of medicines kept at home. In general, if patients already have a sufficient supply of medications at home, for example, long-term medications for chronic diseases or analgesics prescribed for "as needed" use, doctors will discuss with patients and advise that they do not need to collect the same medications from the pharmacy again, so as to reduce wastage caused by overstocking of medicines. For the sake of complete records, doctors will still make a prescription entry in the medical record to document that the patient has followed their medical advice, continued treatment, and has appropriate follow-up arrangements in place. Under the prevailing recording system, such prescription records are also counted under the category of unfilled prescriptions.

In the first quarter of 2026, the rate of unfilled prescriptions was 2.4 per cent, similar to the 2.2 per cent for the whole of 2025. Taking the unfilled prescription records for the first two months of 2026 as an example, about 72 per cent arose from prescriptions made by doctors for the sake of complete medical records, where patients did not actually need to collect the medications. This involved patients who, after discussion with their doctors, confirmed they had a sufficient supply of medications at home and did not need to collect them again. Of these, about 12 per cent involved "as needed" medications (such as analgesics or artificial tears).

In fact, after the implementation of the public healthcare fees and charges reform, the number of unfilled prescriptions has shown only a very slight change, and accounts for only a small proportion of the total number of medication slips processed by public hospitals. The relevant data are set out below for reference.

2025

2026 (January to March)

Number of medication slips processed

About 5.4 million

About 1.457 million

Number of unfilled prescriptions

About 120,000

About 35,000

Percentage of unfilled prescriptions

2.2 per cent

2.4 per cent

From observations by frontline healthcare staff and feedback from patients, the HA understands that, after the implementation of the reform, many patients now recognise that overstocking of medications at home should be avoided, particularly "as needed" medications. Some patients have also proactively requested doctors to reduce prescriptions of such medications to avoid wastage. In the first quarter of 2026, demand for "as needed" medications was about 7 per cent lower than the same period in 2025.

The spokesperson added that if patients consider they already have a sufficient quantity of medications stored at home, they may discuss with their doctors during consultation to reduce the prescription of the medications concerned. Doctors will adjust the prescription quantity according to the patient's clinical condition. The spokesperson reminded patients not to decide on their own not to collect the prescribed medications, but to collect them in accordance with the doctor's prescription to ensure the treatment achieves the expected results.

The HA emphasised that it will ensure no patient is denied from medical care due to lack of means. This fundamental principle will not change. After the implementation of the public healthcare fees and charges reform, the HA has introduced various measures to strengthen protection for "poor, urgent, serious and critical" patients. As at March 31 this year, over 220,000 applications for medical fee waivers have been approved, which is 16 times the approximately 14,000 patients granted waivers in the whole of the previous year. In addition, as at March 31 this year, 2,953 applications for the annual spending cap of $10,000 have been approved. These figures demonstrate that the enhanced patient protection measures are yielding results and effectively safeguarding low-income persons and vulnerable groups. In response to public comments that individual patients have abstained from taking medications due to fee concerns, the HA calls on members of the public to proactively assist those genuinely facing financial difficulties to apply for fee waivers, and to work together to support the public healthcare reform.

Source: AI-found images