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40th Anniversary Celebration
About HKCFP > President’s Message

May 2017

Congratulations to all of the proud Family Doctors in Hong Kong! World Family Doctor Day (WFDD) – 19th May - was first declared by WONCA in 2010 and it has become a day to highlight the role and contribution of family doctors around the world. The event has gained momentum each year and it is a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge the central role of our specialty in the delivery of personal, comprehensive and continuing care for all our patients.


To celebrate this day, the College has a series of activities. ten episodes of a TV series: 'My Family Doctor 2017', produced by Radio Television Hong Kong, in collaboration with the Primary Care Office, Department of Health, which has been broadcasted since March 2017 and will conclude in May 2017. We have a video clip to tell the public about WFDD and the role of family doctor in the community and family. During the week of WFDD, the video clip will be advertised in MTR stations, buses, and outdoor screens in popular areas around Hong Kong. An article will be published in the local newspaper Headline Daily on 19 May, which will showcase and interview with the College's representatives. Finally, three episodes of live RTHK radio programmes on the “Past, Present and Future of the Hong Kong College of Family Physicians” are happening in May and the last episode will be on 19 May. Stay tuned!

By 2041, nearly one third of Hong Kong's population will be aged 65 and above, and the demand for End of Life Care in the community will be enormous. A HKD 300 million three-year project funded by the Jockey Club has been in operation since 2016. The success of the project will hinge on the involvement of primary care doctors. I met Prof Cecilia Chan, Chair Professor in Health and Social Work, the University of Hong Kong, and her team last month. We all agree primary care doctor involvement is essential in this enduring end-of-life programme. The College will start by recruiting 50 doctors who are interested in providing the service in the community. A short training course will commence once we have this number. I encourage anyone who is interested in joining this meaningful palliative care training programme to submit their application when the course is announced.

We now have a new Chief Executive for Hong Kong SAR, Mrs Carrie Lam. Interestingly almost one-third of Mrs Lam’s 36 years of public service has been closely related to Hong Kong's medical services. She was previously posted to the Department of Health as its Assistant Director of Administration, tasked to implement recommendations in the Primary Health Care Report entitled “Health For All by the Year 2000”. Over the past week, she has spoken on her future healthcare policy and made five valid points on: primary care, innovation and technology, cross professional collaboration, healthcare financing and manpower. If these sound familiar it could be that they were all mentioned in my previous messages. She said “Our healthcare system will rise on health promotion and disease prevention and shifting more emphasis to primary healthcare and keeping Hong Kong people especially the senior people happy and healthy so they could all celebrate ageing instead of worrying about ageing”. I do hope Mrs Lam is a lady of her word and keeps investing the smart Hong Kong money on Primary Care and Family Medicine. She has certainly given Primary Care a new lease of life! 

Dr. Angus M W CHAN
President

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