Latest situation of suspected closure of private healthcare facilities
The Government announced on May 2 that an inter-departmental dedicated team was set up to follow up on the suspected closure of certain private healthcare facilities. The team comprises representatives from the Security Bureau, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department, the Hong Kong Police Force, the Department of Health (DH) and the Consumer Council (Council). Customs and the Police as members of the dedicated team have been carrying out investigations into the incident under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO), and to find out if other criminal offences are involved.
Investigation progress
Customs today (May 7) arrested a director and a company secretary of the private healthcare facilities involved. They allegedly wrongly accepted payments as their commercial practices in the course of selling services, which is in contravention of the TDO. Under the TDO, any trader commits an offence if at the time of acceptance of payment, the trader intends not to supply the product or intends to supply a materially different product, or there is no reasonable ground for believing that the trader will be able to supply the product within a specified or reasonable period.
Customs received reports claiming that the private healthcare facilities failed to provide their customers with services that had already been paid. Customs immediately deployed a dedicated team to follow up on the reports and launch investigations. Investigations revealed that before the suspected closure of the facilities, the facilities were still accepting their customers' payments for prepaid services, resulting in those customers not being able to use the services without refund.
After investigations, Customs officers conducted enforcement actions today and arrested the private healthcare facilities' male director and female company secretary, aged 61 and 31 respectively.
Investigations are ongoing.
Number of requests for assistance
As at 5pm today, Customs and the Police received 1 686 related reports in total. The relevant law enforcement agencies (LEAs) will continue to arrange for those who have made a report to give statements, with a view to gathering evidence. The LEAs will continue carrying out their investigations and take appropriate enforcement actions.
The Council received 844 related complaints. The Council will continue to refer the complaints to the relevant private healthcare facilities through known channels in accordance with procedures for handling complaints.
The DH has set up a dedicated telephone hotline, email and WhatsApp for public enquiries for free on related issues since May 3. A total of 112 enquiries (of which 50 were related to vaccines for children and 56 to vaccines for other age groups) were received through the DH's dedicated telephone hotline, email and WhatsApp. The DH has provided appropriate health information and vaccination-related professional advice to meet the different needs of the enquirers. The DH has also assisted parents in need in arranging for their children to receive vaccinations at the DH's Maternal and Child Health Centres and advised them on how to receive vaccines not included in the Hong Kong Childhood Immunisation Programme according to scientific evidence or vaccines for other age groups.
The Primary Healthcare Commission (PHC Commission) has engaged with family doctors and healthcare facilities. Currently, there is a stable supply of relevant vaccines in the private sector, and the service providers are ready to provide vaccination services to people in need. To this end, the PHC Commission has reminded family doctors listed in the Primary Care Directory (PCD) to update their practice information, particularly on the provision of vaccination services, to enable citizens in need to identify suitable family doctors. Members of the public can search for the practice information of relevant family doctors by selecting immunisation (including various vaccines for children) under "Services Provision" in the PCD (apps.pcdirectory.gov.hk/Public/EN/AdvancedSearch?ProfID=RMP). They are advised to contact the relevant family doctors in advance to confirm service details, fees and other relevant matters before making vaccination arrangements.
EDB reminds parents to choose primary schools under Central Allocation process for their children
The Education Bureau (EDB) today (January 12) reminded parents that children who have joined the Primary One Admission (POA) System for 2026 but have not yet secured a discretionary place can take part in the Central Allocation process for a Primary One (P1) place in a government or aided primary school. Parents concerned should make their choice of schools within the period from January 19 to 25.
Digitalisation of POA
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In line with the Smart Government strategy, the EDB has fully implemented digitalisation of the POA. Parents who have registered as POA e-Platform (ePOA) users and have bound their account to "iAM Smart+" may submit the Choice of Schools Form for Central Allocation from January 19 to 25 through the ePOA. Please refer to the related videos and Parent's Guide on the EDB's website (www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/primary-secondary/spa-systems/primary-1-admission/poa_eplatform/index.html) for details of the procedures for activating and logging into an ePOA account and for making school choices for the Central Allocation of POA via the e-Platform.
Making school choices at Central Allocation Centres
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The EDB will send letters to parents on January 14 inviting them to make their choice of schools. To cater for the needs of different parents, parents can still submit the Choice of Schools Form in paper form by visiting the designated Central Allocation Centre at the suggested time slot (i.e. 9.30am to 12.30pm or 1.30pm to 4.30pm on January 24 (Saturday) or 9.30am to 12.30pm on January 25 (Sunday)) stated in the letter.
Parents who are ePOA users may choose to submit the Central Allocation Application via the ePOA or in paper form to the Central Allocation Centre but should not submit duplicate applications. Parents who have not yet received the letter by January 19 should call the School Places Allocation Section of the EDB (Hotline: 2832 7700) as soon as possible.
Only one parent of an applicant child is required to complete the school choice-making procedures. Parents are advised not to take their children to the Central Allocation Centre if possible. Parents who cannot make school choices within the suggested time slot can go to the designated Central Allocation Centre from 1.30pm to 4.30pm on January 25. The Choice of Schools Form will be sent together with the letter to parents who have submitted a paper Application Form at the Discretionary Places stage for filling out in advance.
In the event of adverse weather or other special conditions on any day during the period of making school choices, please pay heed to radio or television announcements on the relevant special arrangements.
Unable to submit application within specified choice-making period
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For individual parents who are unable to use the ePOA or go to the Central Allocation Centre to make school choices, they can authorise in writing a representative to bring the completed Choice of Schools Form and their signed Letter of Authorisation to the Central Allocation Centre to proceed with the related procedures.
To apply for POA 2026 for their children after January 25, parents need to complete necessary procedures with the School Places Allocation Section, which will separately arrange P1 places for the applicant children in June.
Change of residential address
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An EDB spokesman reminded parents that, if they have recently moved their residence or have such plans in the near future, they are required to inform the School Places Allocation Section as soon as possible so that they can make school choices in the POA School Net where their new home is located. Parents should fill in the actual residential address of their child. If they provide a false address for securing a P1 place, the POA application of their child will be rendered void and the P1 place allocated will be withdrawn.
The EDB has put in place a monitoring mechanism to verify the residential addresses of applicant children as given by the parents. Random checks have also been stepped up. The public may call the School Places Allocation Section to report suspected cases of using a false address by parents for their children's POA application. The EDB will take action against false address cases.
Mechanism of Central Allocation
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Central Allocation is composed of two parts. Part A, which takes up 10 per cent of the P1 places earmarked for Central Allocation, is for unrestricted school choices. Parents can choose up to three government or aided primary schools in any school net. Part B takes up the remaining 90 per cent of the P1 places earmarked for Central Allocation. Parents of applicant children residing in the school net concerned are to select schools from the "Choice of Schools List for Central Allocation (Primary One Admission 2026)" of their school net, while parents of applicant children who intend to commute daily to schools in Hong Kong are to select schools from the "2026 Choice of Schools List for Central Allocation (For Applicant Children who intend to commute daily to schools in Hong Kong)". Parents should fill in the Choice of Schools Form in the order of their preference.
The mechanism of the Central Allocation is based on parents' choices in general. The computer-programmed allocation will first process the school choices in Part A and then the school choices in Part B. For oversubscribed schools, the order of priority in allocating places will be determined by random numbers generated by the computer for individual applicants to ensure fairness.
For information about the procedures for Central Allocation, please call the EDB's 24-hour automatic telephone enquiry service at 2891 0088.
Release of Central Allocation results
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For parents who have already activated their ePOA account via "iAM Smart" or "iAM Smart+", they will receive their Central Allocation results through the ePOA from 10am on June 3. Parents who wish to receive the allocation results via SMS on June 3 may choose such an option in the Choice of Schools Form. In addition, the allocation results will be sent to parents by post on June 3 and 4.
Source: AI-found images
