Hong Kong touts free medical tests in deal with Antony Leung's New Frontier
Published: 4:05pm, 12 Feb 2025 Hongkongers will be able to receive free medical tests and access internships under a deal between the government's investment arm and a major healthcare service provider in the Greater Bay Area .
The Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC) and the New Frontier Group, a company co-founded by former finance minister Antony Leung Kam-chung, announced the partnership on Wednesday.
The tie-up is aimed at accelerating the city's development into an international healthcare and medical innovation hub.
Clara Chan Ka-chai, CEO of the HKIC, said the investment would help the New Frontier Group provide support for testing services, medical research and the development of clinical applications.
'Based on the need for scientific research, a certain number of free testing services will be provided to Hong Kong residents for specific research projects,' she said.
She added that further details would be released later.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
HKFP
2 days ago
- HKFP
Japanese photographer Miyuki Kume on her decades-long fascination with Made in Hong Kong products
When Japanese photographer Miyuki Kume moved to Hong Kong in late 1993, she fell in love with the city. It was the delicious Cantonese cuisine that first captured her heart, but what kept her in the city for more than three decades was her passion for collecting Made in Hong Kong goods. It all began when Kume started buying ceramic plates and bowls from local shops and markets 'as a simple habit of making myself happy,' the photographer told HKFP. Her work for a Japanese travel magazine had brought her to Lascar Row in Sheung Wan. The outdoor street market, full of antiques, opened Kume's eyes to products and designs she had never seen in Japan before. She began planning little treasure-hunting trips to different areas in Hong Kong, sneaking into narrow lanes 'like a stray cat,' Kume described. However, when she reviewed her collection, she realised that most of the kitchenware she had purchased was labelled 'Made in China.' Knowing that Hong Kong still had a few industrial sites – albeit operating on a much smaller scale than in previous decades – Kume became determined to track down products that were made locally. She was in luck. The photographer first stumbled upon a book by design scholar Matthew Turner, titled Made in Hong Kong: A History of Export Design in Hong Kong. It served as an introductory guide to household items and toys manufactured in Hong Kong for Kume, who developed a habit of checking the label or stamp of each item of interest to see where it was manufactured. It was 'natural' for her to want to find locally made products, Kume said, drawing a comparison to Hongkongers seeking out Made in Japan goods while travelling. 'Hongkongers are used to seeing these household items. As a foreigner, it's easier for me to spot the characteristics of locally made products,' she said. 3,000-piece collection One of the earliest Hong Kong-made products Kume found was a blue-green vacuum flask by Camel. The brand, founded in 1940 and still operating in Kowloon Bay, caught Kume's attention with its colourful designs. She has since begun hunting for unique vacuum flasks produced in Hong Kong. So far, Kume has collected around 300 vacuum flasks from Camel and other local brands such as Gold Coin and Ox Head. But these flasks are only part of her 3,000-piece vintage collection stored at home, which also includes Chinese-made products she collected in the earlier days. As her collection expanded over the years, Kume decided to keep a better record by photographing the items. Her extensive collection eventually led to the publication of her first book, Hong Kong Department Store, in October 2024. The 196-page book is divided into four chapters. The first explores the world of made-in-Hong Kong products; the others focus on household items made by local artisans, unique Made in China products found in Hong Kong, and various items produced in the city during British colonial rule. In addition to showcasing her collection, the book also features stories of local brands and artisans, interviewed by the Japanese photographer herself. To promote her book, she also had an exhibition, held concurrently in two locations in Kowloon from October to November. It highlighted her eclectic collection, from ceramic tea cups and glass flower vases to plastic chairs and enamel basins. Kume, who learned Cantonese through watching television dramas and reading local newspapers, said she spent a lot of time building rapport with the artisans before convincing them to be interviewed. Many of them were very busy, while some had rejected her invitation because they thought she was doing a paid advertisement. After visiting the shops repeatedly, some shop owners were moved by her persistence and agreed to be featured in her book. The book, which is available in Chinese and Japanese, can serve as a guide for Japanese tourists who enjoy shopping for antique goods in Hong Kong, Kume said. She added that she had hoped to include a fifth chapter focusing on Japanese goods from the Showa period that can be found in Hong Kong, but it was left out due to page constraints. East meets West After being a collector for more than three decades, Kume finds it difficult to summarise the characteristics of Hong Kong-made products. The items reflect the 'design of the city,' Kume said, pointing to Hong Kong's unique position as a place where East meets West. She said she was very impressed by Hong Kong artisans who 'digested' designs from all around the world and added their own flair, giving rise to the distinctive local designs and products. 'There is no place in the world that can have access to Eastern and Western goods so easily,' Kume said. One of Kume's favourites, which she said would never be up for sale, is a panda-shaped radio produced by the company Sonix in Hong Kong during the 1960s. The funky, asymmetrical design — using the channel and volume knobs as eyes and featuring a playful smirk — was very 'evocative of the era,' Kume said. Another reason Kume loves vintage Hong Kong-made goods is their durability and the fact that one can often find beautiful pieces at relatively low prices. Kume used to be able to find affordable Made in Hong Kong products in good condition at shops and markets in older districts of the city. In recent years, however, the prices of these items have risen, and instead of searching on the streets, Kume now conducts her treasure hunts online. The photographer once discovered ceramic pieces from Hong Kong in an online shop based in Malta, which came as a total surprise. She later realised that it was due to Malta being part of the Commonwealth, and that Hong Kong-made products can also be found in other countries that were formerly under British rule. Some Hongkongers may still be able to find old products made in the city, handed down from their grandparents or even earlier generations. Kume urged people to hold on to these items, as they will 'disappear' soon. After publishing her first book and hosting a small exhibition last year, Kume has set her sights on writing a sequel. She said she must race against time to interview as many of Hong Kong's old artisans as possible to ensure their oral histories are recorded and passed on to future generations. 'I think it is my responsibility to listen to and document their stories because I have access,' she said. 'Made in Hong Kong' museum She has no plans to retire in the city due to the high rent, the photographer said. Kume, who refused to disclose her age, said she would likely return to her home in Japan in the future to take care of her ageing mother. While she does not intend to relocate in the coming few years, Kume said she would not be able to bring her entire Made in Hong Kong collection with her. This is primarily because Japan is prone to earthquakes, and her ceramics collection would not survive. Thermal flasks, on the other hand, would not be a problem, Kume said. 'I will have a smaller, but more curated collection.' Kume has considered the possibility of donating her collection when she moves back home, but the collector has a bigger dream — to donate her cherished items to a Made in Hong Kong museum. Although museums in the city have hosted exhibitions about locally made products before, just a corner in a museum is 'not enough,' she said. 'I've always thought that Hong Kong should have a Made in Hong Kong museum. The public can donate what they have at home, and we can have everything there. I think we have enough items for an independent museum.'
HKFP
01-06-2025
- HKFP
‘Hanging halfway': In wake of Canada's immigration delay, Hongkong emigrants ponder whether to stay or return home
When Hongkonger Leonald Lee emigrated to Toronto, Canada, in July 2023, his plan was simple: find a full-time job and work there for at least one year, submit his application for permanent residence, and enrol in a master's degree programme after obtaining his PR status for much cheaper tuition. Lee, a former journalist, was off to a good start when he secured a minimum-wage job at a telecommunications company a month after his arrival. It was not the most exciting work, and his salary often arrived late. However, the 26-year-old did not mind because he had a clear goal in mind: he needed to accumulate enough work hours for his permanent residence application under the Hong Kong Pathway programme. Lee's seemingly straightforward plan took a turn earlier this year when he 'sensed something was not right.' In group chats with other Hongkongers in Canada, he found that more and more people were complaining that there had been no updates on their PR applications submitted months, or even over a year, ago. One night in March, Lee could not fall asleep and turned his mind to calculating the processing time for his application, which he filed in September last year. Using statistics reported by Hong Kong media citing Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Lee estimated he might have to wait at least three years before his application was processed. Lee's estimation was confirmed by the IRCC soon after. On March 18, the IRCC announced there would be a years-long delay in processing permanent residence applications from Hongkongers under the lifeboat programme. The Canadian immigration authorities said that as of October 31, 80 per cent of permanent residence applications were processed within a year. But a backlog has emerged due to a high volume of applications received, and most applications are expected to be processed after 2027. 'What I thought would be a straightforward trilogy turned out to be much longer. I guess it is like The Lord of the Rings, with three thick volumes,' Lee said in Cantonese in a phone interview with HKFP. Moon Ho, a Hong Kong nurse who emigrated to Toronto in February 2023, has tried to follow up on her permanent residence application, which she submitted in September. In April, the 27-year-old spent a week trying to call the IRCC after reading guides provided by fellow Hongkongers in Canada on which lines were more likely to reach the office successfully. When she was finally put through to the office, she was told that her application had been received, but no one had 'opened her file' yet. The waiting time was 'far beyond' her expectations, Ho told HKFP, adding that she was constantly worried she might lose her job after her original permit expires in February next year. Although she can extend her permit or apply for a bridging work permit during her wait, news of other Hongkongers being rejected for unknown reasons has made her question her chances of success. 'I really love my current job in the intensive care unit, which I had to enrol in a course and take exams to get into,' she said. 'I really don't want to lose this job.' Ho's boyfriend, who moved to Toronto with her, is also waiting for his application to be processed. The architectural graduate from Hong Kong had intended to advance his career by pursuing a master's degree after gaining PR status. He is currently stuck in mid-senior jobs, as higher positions require a master's degree, but he cannot afford to pay the international student tuition fees. Confusion, frustration Lee and Ho are not the only ones pondering their future in Canada. In recent months, Hongkongers in Canada have taken to social media to express their confusion and frustration at the lack of updates on their permanent residence applications. Many provided timelines of their applications and said they had not been instructed to take the next step, like submitting biometrics. A netizen wrote on Threads in May that they felt 'very stressed and exhausted' because their work permit would expire in weeks, while their permanent residence application submitted last year had not been updated since. A renewal of the work permit was filed several months ago, but the application is still being processed, they said. The Threads user also said their grandmother's health had deteriorated, and they wanted to return to the city to see her, but they were also concerned about their status once they left Canada. It is unclear whether applicants can wait for their permanent residence applications to be processed outside Canada. The lifeboat scheme, introduced in June 2021 in response to the Beijing-imposed national security law enacted in Hong Kong in 2020, is set to expire on August 31, 2026. The lifeboat scheme offers two pathways. Stream A allows recent graduates from Canadian institutions to seek permanent residence. Stream B, on the other hand, allows Hongkongers to obtain a three-year permit to work in Canada. Those who have worked full-time in Canada for at least one year, or spent at least 1,560 hours in total undertaking part-time work, may apply for permanent residence. In June last year, advocacy group Hong Kong Watch told the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration of the Canadian parliament that around 60,000 Hongkongers had arrived in Canada three years after the temporary immigration policy was launched. Lee and Ho are among more than 40,500 Hongkongers under Stream B who had obtained a three-year permit to work in Canada as of December 31, 2024 – most of them recent postsecondary graduates. Lee said the threshold for emigrating to Canada was 'low' under the Pathway scheme, and many Hong Kong immigrants did not anticipate that the wait for PR applications would be long, as earlier batches of applicants obtained their status rather quickly when there were fewer applicants. The IRCC said in March that, with the two streams combined, it received more than 26,500 permanent residence applications as of October 31. Only more than 10,500 have been approved, while fewer than 200 applications have been refused. To accommodate the processing time, Canada offered a new work permit for Hongkongers in May last year to allow them to stay in the country while they await a decision on their applications. The permit is valid for up to three years and can be renewed. Advocacy efforts Since last year, advocacy groups and politicians have called on the Canadian government to tackle the backlog and maintain its pledge to grant permanent residence to Hongkongers. In September, Tom Kmiec, a Conservative Party MP, presented a petition to the Canadian parliament, urging the IRCC to accelerate the approval process and ensure that applications from Hongkongers would not be rejected due to the target restrictions. The petition referred to Canada's Immigration Levels Plan for 2025 to 2027 for the Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) and Other Category, under which the Hong Kong Pathway programme falls. Canada is seeking to reduce the annual number from 10,000 in 2025 to 6,900 in 2026. The number is expected to drop further to 4,300 in 2027. The reduced target number prompted further questions about whether Hong Kong immigrants under the lifeboat scheme would be affected. The petition, which gathered nearly 15,000 signatures, also asked Canadian authorities to automatically review permits or visas for the Hong Kong applicants who arrived in Canada via Stream A or B. Kmiec told HKFP in a video interview that the estimated backlog was over 18,300 as of December 2024. The Conservative Party MP said he received a lot of requests for assistance from Hongkongers who had issues when they tried to renew their work permits while waiting for their PR applications to be processed. Some Hongkongers received letters from the IRCC claiming that their maintained status – a legal mechanism allowing temporary residents to remain in Canada while their application to extend or change their status is being processed – would expire in five months, or when the IRCC issued a response to their PR application, whichever is earlier. Given that the waiting time has exceeded five months, some Hongkongers are concerned that they could lose their jobs if their employers refuse to continue hiring them after their maintained status expires, Kmiec said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tom Kmiec (@tomkmiec) When Kmiec presented the issue in parliament in November, James McNamee, director general of the IRCC's Family and Social Immigration Branch, said that what was stated in the letters was an 'error' and that the authorities would 'amend' the wording. 'It's an error in the wording of that letter,' McNamee said. 'When that letter was originally created, we were within a much faster processing time… in recent months, with delays, it's taking longer. We have asked to amend that letter.' The official added that applicants may retain their status until they receive a decision from the IRCC without any limitation. Kmiec, who is also the shadow minister for immigration, refugees and citizenship, criticised the Canadian government for having 'no intentionality' behind its immigration. Many temporary measures were introduced to 'get through a particular crisis' without considering the future of immigrants, he said. Sense of belonging With around 10 months left before her work permit expires, Ho does not want the stress concerning her future in Canada to affect her daily life. She has decided to put everything to the back of her mind until September, when she will have to start preparing to extend her work permit or apply for a new one. Lee will make a decision soon. He will see his family in Hong Kong in mid-June, and he will decide whether he should stay in Canada. The chance of staying is slim, he told HKFP, given the foreseeable years-long wait, which he said made him feel like 'hanging halfway up in the air.' 'I used to see a path ahead of me, but I began to wonder what I was doing here. Compared to the first year [in Canada], the feeling of sadness is stronger,' Lee said. Reflecting on his stay in Canada for around two and a half years, Lee said it made him contemplate the meaning of freedom. While Hong Kong's political landscape in recent years was one of the reasons the former journalist chose to move abroad, he felt that the freedom he experienced in Canada was 'a bit useless.' His lack of a sense of belonging to the community in Canada was also why he lost interest in continuing to work in journalism after emigrating. 'I think the reason why many Hongkongers wanted more freedom is that they wanted to shape the future direction of society. But when we are in a city that does not belong to us, even if we have the freedom to speak up, it is purely just talk,' he said. Push factors For many Hongkongers in Canada, the hope of becoming a permanent resident is what draws them to stay in the country. For some, however, the push factors are greater. Alex Chu, 41, returned to Hong Kong in July last year, shortly after obtaining his Canadian permanent residency. The software engineer and his wife moved to Toronto in early 2022. He told HKFP in an interview that after living there for six months, they noticed that the crime rates were high and they did not feel comfortable living in an area with legal drug injection sites and many homeless individuals. The slower pace of life in Toronto, which initially attracted Chu, also turned out to be a mismatch. While he enjoyed strolling in a park and resting on the lawn, repeating this activity almost every weekend made the Hongkonger feel it was 'too early for retirement.' Despite the difference in lifestyle, Chu still applied for permanent residence in August 2023 after completing his postgraduate diploma. What prompted him to return to Hong Kong was the IRCC's rejection of his wife's work permit renewal, stating that her work at the time could not be proven to be significant or beneficial to the Canadian economy. Chu said it was a mistake on the part of the immigration authorities, as such a requirement is not applicable to applicants under the Hong Kong Pathway programme. The couple decided to return to Hong Kong and travel to Japan briefly while their case is on appeal. This was also to ensure his wife was not staying in Canada illegally, Chu said. During their trip, Chu received updates from the IRCC indicating that the renewal denial was not a mistake. However, days later, the IRCC notified them again that the work permit renewal was 'in process,' and it was approved later. 'This experience really made me lose confidence in the Canadian immigration authorities,' he said. Criticism of the Canadian government is often unwelcome among Hong Kong immigrants, Chu said. He has seen comments online asking those who complained to be 'thankful' to Canada for offering additional permanent residence pathways to Hongkongers. 'Of course, we should not take it for granted, but it is a commercial deal. We are bringing money into Canada when we study, pay rent, pay tax and consume,' he said. Other options Pressure groups and politicians such as Kmiec continue to help Hongkongers who have difficulty extending their stay in Canada while waiting for their PR applications to be processed. Kmiec told HKFP that he has spoken with several provincial immigration ministers to find other settlement programmes for Hongkongers in Canada as alternative pathways to permanent residence. It is 'not very productive' to fight with the government on the target numbers, he said, especially with the general sentiment among the Canadian public that immigration levels should go down. He suggested that Hongkongers explore other options as a more feasible solution. Kmiec acknowledged that the Canadian government disappointed Hongkongers with the prolonged processing time. However, the politician also pointed out that the Pathway programme was meant to be a 'one-time escape' for Hongkongers involved in the 2019 protests, and people had to 'make the best decision for themselves.' 'I can't see this Pathway programme continuing on much longer, because the expectation is that those who wanted to escape had the opportunity, they just may not have the opportunity to get PR for an extended period of time until we sort out this immigration system,' he said.
HKFP
28-05-2025
- HKFP
Nearly half of Hongkongers who lost loved ones to suicide at high risk of PTSD, survey shows
Nearly half of Hongkongers who lost their loved ones to suicide are at high risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a survey has found. According to a survey released by the Suicide Prevention Services (SPS), a non-profit organisation, on Tuesday, 47.4 per cent of 154 respondents whose family members died by suicide scored higher than 31 – the cutoff line in a PTSD screening tool. Scores above the cutoff line indicate probable PTSD. Conducted by the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the survey studied those who received SPS services from September 2022 to April 2025 after losing their children, spouses, or siblings to suicide. It also found that those bereaved by suicide struggled with guilt, self-blame, and thoughts questioning the reasons behind the suicides of their loved ones. Amy Chow, a professor at the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at HKU and a board member of the SPS, told HKFP on Tuesday that the study showed women were more likely than men to suffer from self-blame, a sense of abandonment, and feeling uncomfortable talking about the reasons for death. Cultural shame and stigma in Chinese communities often lead the bereaved to remain silent, Dr Fang Chun-kai, a senior attending physician in the Department of Psychiatry at MacKay Memorial Hospital in Taiwan, said at a press conference on Tuesday. They face not only overwhelming grief and guilt but also a lack of adequate social support and psychological care, he added. Each suicide incident affects an average of six family members or friends, Fang said. He called on people not to judge those bereaved by suicide. All the respondents received counselling services provided by the SPS, which had a positive impact on their grief symptoms, Chow said, adding that early intervention is critical. 'If we know anyone who has lost a loved one to suicide, even if they only show mild symptoms, please encourage them to seek help,' she said in Cantonese.
