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The Hong Kong Primary Care Conference (HKPCC) 2021 has been successfully held from 30 July – 1 August 2021, which was well attended by over 700 local and international registrants. I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude towards your great participation and support, especially to our Organising Committee led by Dr. Lorna Ng and our College secretariat led by Ms. Erica So. It was truly a rewarding experience providing a broad spectrum of primary care and family practice exposures to all the participants.
Despite the fact that we are into 6th month of the COVID-19 vaccination programme and the official covid vaccine dashboard at the end of July was showing that over 5.7 million doses have been administered locally, the uptake of the vaccine in the elderly age group has been lagging behind, with only 13.8% for people aged 60 – 69, 4.5% for those aged 70 – 79, and 0.9% for elderly aged 80 and above have received the vaccine. (Please Click) The Centre of Health Protection (CHP) has recently issued two documents on covid-19 vaccinations, and the following were extracts related to COVID-19 vaccination in the elderly. “Unless with contraindications, COVID-19 vaccines are highly recommended for the elderly and individuals with stable medical diseases.” (Please Click) “Elderly should receive COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible, well before the arrival of the winter influenza season.” (Please Click)
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Therefore, as illustrated above by the experts, we need to continue to help building up our defense against the virus by discussing with the patients proactively, especially people who are in the elderly age group. Within the HKPCC 2021, we had a joint webinar organised by the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (HKAM) in conjunction with the Hong Kong College of Physicians (HKCP), Hong Kong College of Community Medicine (HKCM) and our College (HKCFP), reiterating the principles on COVID-19 vaccination for the elderly. And a joint press statement by HKAM, HKCP, HKCFP, and HKCM has been issued to the public encouraging early COVID-19 vaccination uptake by the elderly population if no contraindications are identified, and that clinicians should proactively bring up the topic with the elderly patients when they are seen in the consultation. Right after the HKPCC 2021 on 1 August, we held our 33rd and 34th Fellowship Conferment and Diploma Presentation Ceremony and the 31st Dr. Sun Yat Sen Oration at the HKAM Building. We are very grateful towards all the VIP guests, including Prof. Sophia Chan, Secretary of Food and Health Bureau, for the tremendous support towards our College over the years. I would like to congratulate our two new Honorary Fellows, namely Dr. Mark Miller and Dr. Ruby Lee, 46 Conjoint Fellows, 33 successful candidates of the Exit Examination and 39 of the Diploma in Family Medicine once again for their great achievements. Special thanks go to Dr. Karen Price, the President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), for conferring Conjoint Fellowship to our colleagues in Hong Kong, and Dr. Mark Miller, Chairman of the RACGP International, for delivering this year’s Dr. Sun Yat Sen Oration. The World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is celebrated in the first week of August. This year’s theme is "Protect Breastfeeding: A Share Responsibility", focusing on public awareness of sustaining breastfeeding and multi-sectoral collaboration and partnership for support to breastfeeding families. World Health organisation (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life, followed by continued breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods for up to 2 years or beyond. Breastfeeding offers a powerful defense against malnutrition, and acts as babies’ first vaccine, against many common childhood diseases. (Please Click). Please continue to render your full support towards breastfeeding.
Please keep well and stay safe. |
Dr. David V K CHAO
President
