General holidays for 2026 published
The following list of general holidays for 2026 is gazetted today (May 16) for public information:
Every Sunday |
Sunday |
The first day of January |
January 1 |
Thursday |
Lunar New Year's Day |
February 17 |
Tuesday |
The second day of Lunar New Year |
February 18 |
Wednesday |
The third day of Lunar New Year |
February 19 |
Thursday |
Good Friday |
April 3 |
Friday |
The day following Good Friday |
April 4 |
Saturday |
The day following Ching Ming Festival |
April 6 |
Monday |
The day following Easter Monday |
April 7 |
Tuesday |
Labour Day |
May 1 |
Friday |
The day following the Birthday of the Buddha |
May 25 |
Monday |
Tuen Ng Festival |
June 19 |
Friday |
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day |
July 1 |
Wednesday |
The day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival |
September 26 |
Saturday |
National Day |
October 1 |
Thursday |
The day following Chung Yeung Festival |
October 19 |
Monday |
Christmas Day |
December 25 |
Friday |
The first weekday after Christmas Day |
December 26 |
Saturday |
A Government spokesman said, "As the Ching Ming Festival in 2026 falls on a Sunday, the following day will be designated as a general holiday in substitution. In this connection, as the day following the Ching Ming Festival falls on Easter Monday, the next day that is not itself a general holiday will be observed as an additional general holiday. Moreover, as the Birthday of the Buddha and the Chung Yeung Festival in 2026 both fall on a Sunday, the day following them will be designated as a general holiday in substitution."
Public Healthcare Fees and Charges Reform Strengthens Protection for Poor, Acute, Serious and Critical Patients Number of Waiver Recipients is 3.5 times Annual Total of Previous Year
The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) spokesperson announced today (January 9) that in addition to the 600 000 people who have been benefiting from medical fee waivers both before and after the reform (including Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients, Old Age Living Allowance recipients aged 75 or above, and holders of Residential Care Service Voucher Scheme Level 0 vouchers), as of January 7, the HA has approved 49 310 medical fee waiver applications. This figure is 3.5 times of approximately 14 000 patients who received medical fee waivers in previous year, demonstrating that the enhanced medical fee reduction mechanism has significantly strengthened support for low-income families and underprivileged groups. Over the past week, many patients have benefited from the enhanced medical fee waivers mechanism, receiving immediate fee reduction when using Accident and Emergency Departments (A&E), outpatient and inpatient services.
Medical fee waivers take effect covering more than 10 000 poor patients
As an essential component of the public healthcare fees and charges reform, the HA expanded its medical fee waivers mechanism at the same time, which significantly increased the number of eligible individuals from approximately 300 000 to about 1.4 million - around 4.6 times the previous number of beneficiaries. This ensures that limited medical resources can be more precisely directed to help those most in need: the poor, acute, serious, and critical patients. As of January 7, among the 49 310 medical fee waiver applications approved by the HA, 32 249 cases have completed assessment and received formal waiver certificates valid for up to 18 months but claimed . For patients who claim to meet the medical fee waivers eligibility criteria but are unable to submit supporting documents for financial assessment, the HA has exercised flexible arrangements to approve 17 061 "conditional waivers", allowing patients to obtain immediate medical fee reductions when using public healthcare services. These patients must submit relevant documentation within three months.
After the fees and charges reform, many patients are benefited for the first time from the expanded medical fee waivers mechanism, changing from paying full fees to receiving free services. From January 1 to 7, excluding the number of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients, Old Age Living Allowance recipients aged 75 or above, and holders of Residential Care Service Voucher Scheme Level 0 vouchers who can continue to use their medical fee waivers, there are over 11 200 patients benefitted from the enhanced medical fee waivers mechanism, including:
About 500 poor patients at A&Es,who were triaged as urgent, semi-urgent and non-urgent, received medical fee waivers, triple of last year's figure;
About 2 100 poor patients received medical fee waivers for inpatient services, 3.5 times of last year's figure; and
About 8 600 poor patients received medical fee waivers for specialist outpatient services, six times of last year's figure.
The HA spokesperson stated, "The data concerned shows obviously that the enhanced medical fee waivers mechanism, which is newly introduced in line with the public healthcare fees and charges reform, can allocate resources more precisely to strengthen protection for poor, acute, serious and critical patients, ensuring that no patient is denied from medical care due to lack of means."
The current situation regarding patients' applications and usage of medical fee waivers aligns with the HA's projection. The HA will continue to strengthen its manpower to provide assistance to patients in need. To ensure the integrity of the medical fee assistance system and prevent abuse, the HA will conduct regular reviews of approved cases.
Number of non-urgent A&E patients reduced significantly while treatment efficiency for emergency patients improved
Regarding A&E services, from January 1 to 7, 32 147 patients attended the 18 A&Es under the HA, significantly decreased by about 11.9 per cent of the same period last year. Among the cases, 1 807 patients were classified as critical and emergency cases, and 14 077 patients were classified as urgent cases, showing a slight increase compared to the same period last year. The remaining 16 263 patients were classified as semi-urgent and non-urgent cases, showing a significant decrease of 17.8 per cent compared to the same period last year. Since the implementation of the public healthcare fees and charges reform, the operations of public hospital A&E services has initially met expected results, including:
Significant decrease in average daily A&E attendances by about 11.9 per cent;
In the past seven days, about 1 800 critical and emergency patients exempted from A&E fees under the new fees and charges reform. These patients were required to pay the fees before the reform;
For patients classified as urgent cases, the percentage of those being treated within 30 minutes - meeting the service pledge target - increased from 82.7per cent last year to 88.8 per cent, with average waiting time reduced from 22 to 19 minutes; and
Among the five triage categories, semi-urgent and non-urgent patients decreased from 54.2 per cent in the same period last year to 50.6 per cent.
The HA spokesperson said, "The service data of the past week shows that the fees and charges reform allowed A&Es to perform their emergency care function more effectively. A&Es can better concentrate resources, treat patients with urgent medical needs more effectively, and improve treatment efficiency for urgent cases."
The HA will continue to closely monitor the fees and charges reform as well as the overall operations of services of public hospitals, in order to ensure achieving the aim of protecting poor, acute, serious or critical patients.
Source: AI-found images
