Kick-off meeting on establishment of new medical school held today
The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, and the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, co-chaired a meeting today (December 4) to receive a briefing from the President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Professor Nancy Ip, and her team on the next steps for implementing the establishment of the new medical school. Government representatives attending the meeting were from the Health Bureau, the Education Bureau, the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau, theDevelopment Bureau, the Department of Health, the Hospital Authority, theUniversity Grants Committee Secretariat, and thePrimary Health Commission.
The Government earlier announced that the Chief Executive in Council (CE-in-Council) had approved in principle that the new medical school to be established by the HKUST, marking a new phase in the preparatory work for the new medical school. The Task Group on New Medical School will support and closely monitor the work in the implementation stage to ensure that the HKUST achieves the set milestones in a progressive manner. Working groups will be set up under the Task Group to provide advice and support in areas such as curriculum development, financial and financing arrangements, staffing, campus development, and teaching hospital arrangements, and experts with relevant experience in the respective fields will be invited to participate in the work of the working groups. The Government will require the HKUST to regularly report progress to and seek views from the working groups and report to the Task Group as necessary.
Professor Lo said, "At today's meeting, we exchanged views on the overall work direction for the implementation stage of establishing the medical school. We support the HKUST to push forward various preparatory tasks, and the Task Group will regularly meet with the university representatives starting from the first quarter of next year to understand the progress. The Government expects to officially sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the HKUST early next year, the content of which will cover funding arrangements, curriculum accreditation, teaching hospital resources, as well as recruitment of teaching staff, and more. We expect the HKUST to fully co-operate with the Task Group and its working groups on the preparatory work."
Dr Choi said, "The establishment of the new medical school is expected to play a leading role in shaping innovative approaches to medical education by embracing interdisciplinary learning, advancing scientific research development, and attracting both local and international talent, to dovetail with the national blueprint of the 2024-2035 master plan on building China into a leading country in education and the vision of building Hong Kong into an international post-secondary education hub. We are confident that the new medical school will actively foster collaboration within the Greater Bay Area through its strategic location in the Northern Metropolis and serve as an academic and research powerhouse in the region, contributing to the development of a robust and forward-thinking healthcare workforce."
The Chief Executive announced in the 2024 Policy Address that the Government supports the establishment of the third medical school by a local university, with a view to nurturing more outstanding medical practitioners to support the local healthcare system in providing quality services, while at the same time promoting the development of Hong Kong into an international medical training, research and innovation hub. The Task Group was established in October 2024, comprising seasoned local, Mainland and overseas academics in medical education and university management, professionals, representatives from the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) and the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, as well as representatives from the relevant government bureaux and departments. It is responsible for inviting universities to submit proposals and conducting assessments, making recommendations to the CE-in-Council, and maintaining communication with the university selected to establish the new medical school on the implementation plan. In November this year, the CE-in-Council approved the establishment of the third medical school and gave approval-in-principle for the new medical school to be established by the HKUST, which shall aim to admit the first cohort of 50 students in the 2028/29 academic year. The HKUST must obtain in-principle approval from the MCHK for the accreditation of its medical curriculum before the commencement of student admission.
Source: AI-found images
Government announces updates on follow-up work on Tai Po fire
The three task forces set up by the Government for the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po - the Task Force on Investigation and Regulation, the Task Force on Emergency Support and Fund-Raising, and the Task Force on Emergency Accommodation Arrangements - are making full efforts to follow up on the support, relief, and investigation work related to the incident. Details are as follows:
Financial and welfare support
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For the Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, established by the Government, donations received have reached $2.5 billion as of noon today (December 4). In addition to the start-up capital of $300 million from the Government, the fund's total has now reached around $2.8 billion. The fund will be used to assist residents in rebuilding their homes and providing long-term and sustained support.
The Government earlier announced that the Support Fund will provide families of each deceased victim with a token of solidarity of $200,000, as well as $50,000 to cover funeral costs. As of today, a total of 67 cases have been processed, and disbursements are under way. In addition, the Government announced that the Support Fund will provide a living allowance of $50,000 to each affected household. As of today, 674 cases have been processed, and disbursements are ongoing. The Government today further announced that the living allowance is increased from $50,000 to $100,000.
In addition, the Government has so far disbursed an emergency subsidy of $10,000 to 1 929 households.
Social workers from the Social Welfare Department (SWD) have been in contact with more than 1 700 affected households so far to register them for the "one social worker per household" follow-up service. SWD staff also paid a visit to the affected residents staying in transitional housing units in Yuen Long today, and distributed Octopus cards with a face value of $2,000 to facilitate their daily travels and address their imminent needs. The SWD will maintain liaison with the affected households to provide all necessary assistance while fully supporting the relief work of the Government. Those not yet in touch with the SWD are advised to leave their contact information by calling 182 183 as soon as possible.
To further strengthen support for those affected by the Tai Po fire, under the directive of the Financial Secretary’s co-ordination meeting with the financial regulators, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Hong Kong Association of Banks today met again with 28 retail banks (including digital banks) and introduced additional measures to continue assisting those affected with a compassionate approach and flexible arrangements. For more details, please refer to the HKMA's press release.
Accommodation support
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As of this morning, a total of 1 241 residents have been accommodated, through the co-ordination of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, in youth hostels, camps, or hotel rooms. Another 2 235 residents have moved into transitional housing units provided by the Housing Bureau or units from the Hong Kong Housing Society. Moreover, the Tai Po District Office continues to operate a temporary shelter at Tai Po Community Centre, which remains open to residents in need. The other temporary shelter at Tung Cheong Street Community Hall will remain in operation until the existing users have relocated to arranged emergency accommodations.
The Transport Department (TD) has been steering public transport operators to strengthen services of franchised buses, green minibuses and residents' services by deploying additional vehicles and manpower to support residents affected by the fire who have been admitted into transitional housing in various districts, allowing them to connect with other services to commute between different districts. The TD will continue to maintain close liaison with operating organisations of the transitional housing projects concerned and public transport operators to cater for residents' commuting needs.
Relief supplies and donations
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The supplies donation online platform (www.taipodonation.hk), established by the Government and the information technology sector, continues to operate, facilitating the registration of supplies donations from organisations and the public. The Government has so far received over 1 300 registrations, of which approximately 30 per cent were submitted by organisations, whereas the others were contributed by the public. The various registered donation items include food and beverages, clothing, daily necessities, beddings, and electrical appliances. The Government is actively assessing residents’ actual needs through the relevant policy bureau, Government departments, and service organisations for the matching of donated supplies in order to distribute appropriate items to places in need in phases. The matching and distribution of supplies will continue.
Handling of reported missing persons
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The Police have completed searches inside all seven buildings. Today, around 300 officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit conducted searches around the buildings and near the collapsed scaffolding, which had been confirmed as safe. No human remains were found, and the number of the deceased remains at 159. The officers also handed over suspected human remains found earlier to forensic pathologists for further testing. The Police will continue to follow up on the reported missing persons, aiming to confirm their status and the number of casualties as soon as possible.
Investigations
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The Inter-departmental Fire Investigation Task Force, led by the Fire Services Department and joined by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, investigated the oil gas pipeline on the exterior wall at the initially confirmed fire location and found no damage to the pipeline.
Regulation and inspection work
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The Housing Bureau has arranged emergency maintenance contractors to help the Police start clearing away miscellaneous items at the surroundings of the buildings starting today. At the same time, further support works have commenced in the small number of units which may be subject to more damage.
The Independent Checking Unit of the Housing Bureau visited the four Home Ownership Scheme courts, namely Sui Wo Court in Sha Tin, Ching Lai Court in Sham Shui Po, Yee Kok Court in Sham Shui Po, and On Kay Court in Kwun Tong, as well as Fung Wah Estate in Chai Wan under the Tenants Purchase Scheme to oversee the work and progress on the removal of protective nets carried out by the registered contractors. The Housing Department has also completed the removal of the protective nets in 15 public housing estates today.
Following the Development Bureau’s announcement yesterday (December 3) that any scaffold nets installed on external walls of all public and private buildings, as well as government buildings undergoing major repair works, must be immediately removed, and the works at the external walls must cease, the Buildings Department (BD) and relevant government departments have issued orders to contractors today, requiring them to complete the removal on or before this Saturday (December 6). Before and after the removal of scaffold nets, the contractors must ensure that there are no materials or loose items on the scaffolding, and that the scaffolding is safely secured to ensure public safety. Some contractors have commenced the removal and for individual cases that require more handling time, the contractor should notify the relevant department in advance, which will assess whether there are reasonable grounds for discretionary arrangements.
The BD aims to issue a new code of practice next week, requiring all scaffold net materials to be sampled on-site. The scaffold nets can only be installed after being certified by designated laboratories as compliant with relevant requirements.
Moreover, relevant departments inspected existing buildings undergoing major external wall maintenance earlier and took samples for testing from buildings with scaffold nets installed. The BD has taken samples from 400 private buildings with scaffold nets installed and sent them for testing in batches. The Architectural Services Department has also inspected all 18 of its public works building projects and collected samples for testing.
The Labour Department (LD) continues to inspect fire protection facilities and the fire emergency preparedness of building maintenance work sites with large-scale scaffolding to ensure the occupational safety of workers. As of 4pm today, the LD has inspected 239 construction sites, issued a total of 130 written warnings and 61 improvement notices, and taken out 17 prosecutions.
Source: AI-found images
