Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority will begin using standard prefixes for telephone numbers to make it easier for people to recognise its calls rather than avoiding them due to scammers and advertisers. Starting next Tuesday, all phone calls made by the authority, which oversees public medical facilities, will display a unified caller ID number beginning with…
Hong Kong health authorities have ordered hospitals to stop using a batch of blood pressure monitoring sets after an improperly sealed device was linked to the death of an elderly man undergoing a heart operation. The Department of Health also said on Friday that it had ordered the local supplier to halt sales of the…
A 29-year-old Hong Kong man died of misadventure linked to a rare complication following a gastroscopy at a public hospital two years ago, a death inquest has found. The Coroner’s Court on Friday ruled that Lui Pak-to died of cerebral oedema, or brain swelling, triggered by the procedure at Queen Mary Hospital on February 29,…
Hong Kong health authorities have opened an investigation into a suspected medical blunder involving an improperly sealed catheter used in a heart operation on a 75-year-old man who later died at Tuen Mun Hospital. The Hospital Authority said on Thursday that the patient, who had a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and high cholesterol,…
Hong Kong is expected to play a greater role in major national clinical research projects and scientific breakthroughs, a mainland health official has said, pledging stronger support for local researchers at an annual medical conference. The remarks were made by a National Health Commission official at the Hospital Authority Convention on Monday, where the authority’s…
More than 400 cancer patients are set to benefit from Hong Kong health authorities’ decision to subsidise a leukaemia drug, and will go from paying up to HK$500,000 (US$63,800) a year for treatment to forking out just HK$240. The Hospital Authority said on Wednesday that it began subsidising the medication, Dasatinib, in April, with the…
Hong Kong public hospitals will extend visiting hours at all rehabilitation and palliative wards from five to nine hours a day by the end of July, with those in central Kowloon and New Territories West expected to roll out the arrangement this month. Danny Tong Wah-kun, the Hospital Authority’s chief manager of nursing, said the…
Two victims of the Wang Fuk Court inferno dug through the ashes of their homes, only to each discover about HK$100,000 (US$12,800) in charred banknotes, just two of many such finds as residents returned to the fire-damaged Hong Kong estate on Thursday. On the same day, several local storage companies offered free services to affected…
The Hong Kong government has planned for legislation allowing terminally ill patients to refuse life-sustaining treatment to start on July 31. In a paper submitted to the Legislative Council, authorities said that the Advance Decision on Life-sustaining Treatment Ordinance, passed in November 2024, would provide legal status to patients’ advance care planning while offering protection…
Student mental health is a matter of great concern. According to the latest data from the Education Bureau, the number of secondary students with mental health issues has doubled over the past five years, from 660 in 2020-21 to 1,330 in 2024-25. In recent years, the government and various stakeholders in society have worked to…