For Hong Kong to maintain its status as a world class city, it will have to capitalise on the vast achievements it obtained during the past 12 months. It was a year which saw records broken on the financial markets and education prominence putting the city against renown halls of academia.
The blueprint for its future will be drawn from the experiences of the people of Hong Kong who are currently being consulted for the Chief Executive’s fourth policy address in September.
"I have endeavoured to transform the culture of the Government into one that is result-oriented, works at a faster pace, and is proactive. My team and I have been listening to the views of the public and focusing on serving the community. We are committed to developing the economy and improving people's livelihoods to ensure our initiatives effectively respond to the needs of the public," the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee said in a release announcing the consultation process.
The Government will hold more than 40 consultation sessions to receive the views and suggestions of Legislative Council Members, representatives of different sectors, and the public. Mr Lee and his principal officials will also conduct district visits to meet with the public and representatives of different sectors to listen to their views directly. His address will be, as always, a ‘team Hong Kong’ effort.
Key to Hong Kong’s success has been the city’s financial sector. Already this year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has ushered in a total of 52 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), up 30 per cent year-on-year and raising a total of HK$124 billion, an increase of 590 per cent year-on-year. This placed Hong Kong’s ranking first in the world ahead of New York, London, and Sydney. This is expected to grow to 80 IPOs worth some $200 billion by year’s end. And the Hang Seng Index has already risen by 25.3 per cent year-on-year.
The government will surely be looking at ways to continue improving the listing system, say, by tapping our neighbouring Asian markets for secondary listings, further promote liquidity in the stock market, attract more quality enterprises from around the world to list in Hong Kong, and enhance Hong Kong’s attractiveness and vitality as a listing location.
The other pillars of the economy, tourism, aviation and shipping where efforts are being made to enhance Hong Kong as a regional shipping centre, will also receive prominent mention in his speech.
Moreover, reaching Hong Kong’s fore has been its education system, not only the achievements of local universities and students, but also an opportunity provided by US president Donald Trump himself when he closed the doors on foreign student intakes by the famed Harvard University and others. As a result of Trump policies, Hong Kong's eight publicly funded universities have received 850 transfer inquiries from students affected by the US policies and have extended at least 36 formal offers as of the end of June. This will obviously involve stepping up promotion of the "Study in Hong Kong" brand to attract more outstanding non local students.
As the only city with five universities in the world's top 100, Hong Kong is an international hub for exchange and collaboration among high-calibre talent. For two consecutive years (this will be his third), the Chief Executive has put forward in the policy address the goal of developing Hong Kong into an international education hub and a cradle for future talent. This will involve making good use of the Northern Metropolis development, with new land, new population, excellent connectivity, development opportunities of different industries and close connections with the Mainland, to provide space for the post-secondary education sector to develop and enhance its quality and capacity.
At present, the Government has reserved about 90 hectares for developing the Northern Metropolis University Town on the outskirts of Yuen Long and the overall plan will incorporate much needed student accommodation, a major problem in Hong Kong where only one student in four can acquire accommodation on campus.
Undoubtedly, this year’s address will be an update of these developments, which are expected to be completed after 2030.
Of course, the address will cover every aspect of Hong Kong life and core industries including tourism, aviation and shipping, where efforts will be made to enhance Hong Kong as a regional shipping centre.
Providing a background to the policy address will be research undertaken during the year by the Chief Executive’s Central Policy Unit (CEPU) which co-ordinates the consultation process and follow-up the implementation of policy initiatives.
Mark Pinkstone
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
As Hong Kong has been developing in leaps and bounds, so has its medical services increased to meet local demands.
And with planned new hospitals in the Northern Metropolis along with current expansion and construction development, expertise is expected to increase and the dreaded waiting times for patients will be considerably reduced.
Hong Kong is poised to be the medical centre of Asia.
Currently, Hong Kong has about 36,000 beds in 43 public hospitals and 14 private hospitals. And already they are overcrowded, aided undoubtedly by an increasing aging population. Patients have to wait up to two hours for a consultation in public hospitals and up to a year or more for onward specialised bookings for appointment.
But that is about to change. Opening on December 11 in Tseung Kwan O will be the 400-bed Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong run by the Baptist University under the umbrella of the Health Bureau of the government and not to be confused with the Hospital Authority which runs all public hospitals and clinics in Hong Kong.
This is a major breakthrough for Chinese medicine (CM) to be fully integrated with research into western-Chinese medicines while serving the community. It will be the flagship for the 18 Chinese medicine clinics already operating in all districts in Hong Kong.
In its first year of operation, it will provide only outpatient 25 beds and day-patient services and six specialised CM services – internal medicine, external medicine, gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics and traumatology, and acupuncture and moxibustion. It will also provide 12 special disease programs including those for elderly degenerative diseases and stroke rehabilitation.
Inpatient services will start from late next year, with other services expanding year by year, including the remaining 11 special disease programs. It is expected that by the end of 2030, the hospital will provide full inpatient services with its 400 patient beds, as well as outpatient services of 400 000 annual attendances.
Construction is also well underway and above the foundations for the North District Hospital (NDH) extension in Sheung Shui. The expansion of NDH mainly covers the construction of a new hospital block, refurbishment, alteration and addition to existing hospital building, and the provision of associated internal roadworks as well as external and landscaping works. Upon completion of the expansion project in about 2028, the hospital will provide about 1,500 additional beds, atop of its 680 existing beds.
And then comes the mother of all hospitals: The Northern Metropolis Hospital in Ngau Tam Mei, south of Yuen Long, is developing a new integrated medical teaching and research hospital which will become the flagship hospital of the Northern Metropolis with about 3 000 beds, providing comprehensive healthcare services for the new population in the area.
Last year in his policy address, the Chief Executive John Lee announced plans for developing a new integrated medical teaching and research hospital which will become the flagship hospital of the Northern Metropolis, providing comprehensive healthcare services.
The area is a goldmine for development. Representing about one third of Hong Kong’s total land area, existing agricultural land and fishponds will be turned into a massive hub for international scientific and technical research and development.
In the First Hospital Development Plan, there are three projects in two clusters, including the expansion of North District Hospital, the redevelopment of Prince of Wales Hospital, and the extension of Operating Theatre Block for Tuen Mun Hospital. It is anticipated that a total of 1 950 additional beds and other hospital facilities will be provided by 2031 in the New Territories after the completion of the three projects, bringing the physical bed capacity in the east and west clusters in the New Territories to about 12 000 beds.
Most importantly on the backburner is a decision by the Chief Executive in Council (ExCo) last year that a site of about two hectares be reserved in the San Tin Technopole (between Yuen Long and Sheung Shui) for healthcare facilities “which may include private hospital use.”
A private hospital in the New Territories opens up many possibilities, including medical tourism.
The Chinese medical hospital will draw in many tourists from the mainland and Asia seeking medical help through traditional Chinese and western medicine methods. A tourism hospital situated along the Chinese boundary will boost tourism figures ten-fold.
A case in point is the Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. It is a classic example of how the private sector can benefit in healthcare. Founded in 1980, Bumrungrad International Hospital has been a global pioneer in providing world-class healthcare services and international patient support for nearly four decades. The hospital is an internationally accredited, multi-specialty hospital listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand since 1989. It is, perhaps the largest private hospital in Southeast Asia, caring for more than 1.1 million patients annually from more than 190 countries.
