Happy new year to you and your family! As we entered into 2025, I have great news to share with all the College members and Fellows. Thanks to the tremendous support and hard work of our College Censors, Executives, Council Members, Clinical Supervisors, Examiners, College secretariat and the colleagues of our RACGP counterparts, the qualification of International Conjoint Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (ICFRACGP) has been officially accredited for quotability in Hong Kong by the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) since 6th November, 2024 and is now listed on the MCHK website (please click). I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank all the Conjoint Examination candidates for the hard work and dedication towards our College’s family medicine training and assessment. You have made us proud! Well done!

As stated in a recent communication issued by the Centre of Health Protection (CHP), the local seasonal influenza activity continued to increase, signifying that Hong Kong has entered the 2024/25 influenza season. (please click)

The latest CHP surveillance data revealed that the weekly percentage of respiratory specimens tested positive for seasonal influenza viruses has increased rapidly in late December and reached 5.69% last week, exceeding the baseline threshold of 4.94%. The predominating circulating viruses are influenza A (H1) at present. The overall admission rate with principal diagnosis of influenza in public hospitals also reached 0.36 per 10,000 population in the same week, which was above the baseline threshold of 0.27. The highest admission rates were observed among children aged 0-5 years and elders aged 65 years or above. As family doctors, we should continue to do our best to advise our patients aged six months or above especially the priority groups to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine as soon as possible for personal protection as well as protection of the community as a whole. Thank you for keeping up your good work!

In celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), the Health Bureau of Macao SAR held a Community Health Summit on 6th October 2024. The organiser has invited several officiating guests and speakers to attend the Summit, including Prof. Donald Li and myself. The Summit began with Dr. Lo Iek Long, Director of Health Bureau of Macao SAR, giving the opening speech illustrating the importance of further developing Family Medicine practice and quality Community Health approach in achieving the healthy Macao initiatives presented in the Healthy Macao Blueprint released in July 2024. Dr. Lo pointed out that the most important areas of work ahead, namely optimising the mechanism of "integration of medical treatment and prevention”, establishing a “key performance indicator system for chronic disease management quality” to improve chronic disease management, and strengthening the training system of family doctors, as well as integrating mental health into the community health system. Then Dr. Wong Yin of Macao introduced the Healthy Macao Blueprint policy details and reiterated the importance of community healthcare system in implementing the policy. Professor Wannian Liang, Executive Vice-Dean of Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, China, shared on “Developing People-centred Integrated Care – China in Acton” in which he gave his in-depth analysis of the current medical reforms in the Mainland, reviewing the challenges, opportunities and success stories. Ms. Zhang Fudi, second-level inspector from Fujian Province, shared on their successful health reform experiences in Fujian. Prof. Donald Li shared on how we should capture the opportunities presented by the rapid developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare applications. Then I presented our Family Medicine specialist training programme, and other continuing medical education and continuing professional development activities organised by the Hong Kong College of Family Physicians, and closed by sharing our experiences in managing chronic diseases in the community. The Summit ended with a fruitful discussion session. Hong Kong and Macao are facing similar health issues due to population aging and lifestyle changes. We look forward to foster closer collaboration and sharing in bringing better health to our communities.

Wish you all a healthy, fruitful and prosperous Year of the Snake ahead !