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Health

The Hospital Authority's General Outpatient Clinic Public-Private Partnership Programme subsidises hypertension and/or diabetes mellitus patients (with or without hyperlipidemia) of stable condition from its general outpatient clinics to receive treatment by private doctors. The programme has been rolled out to 16 districts, and is expected to cover all 18 districts by 2018-19. It had covered 310 participating service providers and 19,497 patients by end-2017.

Sharing of Electronic Health Records

A territory-wide Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHRSS) allows healthcare providers in the public and private sectors to share the health information of participating patients. The system, regulated by the Electronic Health Record Sharing System Ordinance, aims to enhance the continuity of patient care, promote public-private partnership and improve the quality and efficiency of health care. The eHRSS has been operating smoothly since its commissioning in 2016.

Healthcare recipients and providers are encouraged through engagement and promotional activities to join the eHRSS. As at end-2017, over 650,000 healthcare recipients and over 1,400 organisations, including the 12 private hospitals, private clinics, elderly homes and welfare groups, had registered in addition to the Hospital Authority and the Department of Health. More than 43,700 accounts had been created for healthcare professionals, including about 10,400 doctors, 28,800 nurses, 430 dentists and 4,060 other healthcare professionals specified under the ordinance, to view and share patients' health information on the system.

Genomic Medicine

The bureau established a Steering Committee on Genomic Medicine in November to harness the potential of new technology for better public health policies and clinical outcomes.

Health Promotion

Healthy Lifestyle

The Department of Health's Central Health Education Unit formulates and implements health promotion strategies. It provides information and advice on health-related topics and encourages healthy eating and regular physical activity. The unit also updates information and health advice on infectious diseases, and produces materials in various languages to raise awareness among ethnic minorities of how to prevent communicable diseases.

The department works with the Education Bureau to conduct campaigns such as [email protected] and [email protected], which respectively drew the participation of more than 590 pre-primary institutions and over 470 primary schools, including special schools, in the 2016-17 school year. The Joyful@School campaign, another joint collaboration with the Education Bureau, promotes mental well-being among primary and secondary students.

The Adolescent Health Programme fosters mental health and healthy use of the internet among 314 participating secondary schools as well as over 900 parents, teachers, social workers and other stakeholders.

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