Text: Yangcheng Evening News reporter Tan Zheng.
Figure provided by the interviewee.
In November 2023, the 3rd Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Health Cooperation Conference was held in Nansha, Guangzhou. On the day of the conference, Lo Chung-mao, Secretary for Health of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region**, proposed five projects on cross-border medical and health collaboration, including the Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme for Elderly Health Care Vouchers, making good use of medical services in the Greater Bay Area, cross-boundary ambulance through train, establishing a mutual assistance mechanism for routine organ transplantation, and supporting the internationalization of national hospital accreditation standards.
According to the data, a total of 60 cooperation projects were reached at the conference, covering scientific and technological innovation, industrial cooperation, talent training, rare blood group bank sharing, rare disease treatment, etc. In the previous two sessions of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Health Co-operation Conference, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have signed 89 cooperation projects.
In the past five years, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has become more and more frequent in terms of medical integration and medical industry development.
In November 2020, the State Food and Drug Administration issued the "Work Plan for the Regulatory Innovation and Development of Drugs and Medical Devices in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area", the core of which is the innovative launch of the new policy of "Hong Kong and Macao Medicines and Medical Devices", which allows designated medical institutions operating in the nine mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to use drugs that are urgently needed in clinical practice and have been marketed in Hong Kong and Macao.
On 31 October 2022, the Measures of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin to Support the High-quality Development of the Biomedical and Health Industry were issued. This is the first special support measure to support the development of the biomedical and health industry since the establishment of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
At the beginning of 2023, the Nansha Hospital of Guangzhou First People's Hospital - Hong Kong and Macao Residents Health Service Center held an unveiling ceremony, marking the official opening of the first Hong Kong and Macao Residents Health Service Center in Nansha.
In December 2023, Qianhai's first international community health care - Qianhai International Talent Port Community Health Service Station of Shenzhen Qianhai Shekou Free Trade Zone Hospital officially opened. The community health station is the first non-profit public primary health service organization in the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Cooperation Zone to introduce Hong Kong and international management models, integrating "health promotion, prevention, diagnosis, control, and other functions".
Residents of different cities in the Greater Bay Area are also gradually having more choices in terms of medical treatment options and health management. With the steady progress of medical integration, how can Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao carry out wider exchanges and cooperation in terms of policy coordination, medical resource exchange, scientific research and innovation cooperation, and complementary industrial elements, so as to promote the high-quality development of the medical industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area? Lin Shunchao, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Hong Kong C-MER Ophthalmology Group, and Yao Jianming, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association, submitted relevant suggestions and proposals on relevant content at this year's National People's Congress and the National People's Congress.
Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress Lin Shunchao:
Promote the integration of healthcare between Hong Kong and the Mainland.
Lin Shunchao, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of C-MER Eye Group in Hong Kong, who has long been concerned about the progress of medical integration in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, brought seven suggestions to the meeting this year, covering the implementation of the mutual assistance mechanism for human organ transplantation between the mainland and Hong Kong, promoting the prevention and control of myopia in children and adolescents, promoting the integration of medical care between Hong Kong and the mainland to promote cross-border medical treatment, promoting the "crossing of the river" of real-world data and medical data, and further developing the "Hong Kong and Macao Medicines and Medical Devices Connect". Among the seven proposals, four are closely related to promoting healthcare integration in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Lin Shunchao said frankly that in recent years, with the implementation of various rules, the medical integration in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is also gradually advancing, but there are still many places that can be "further". "For example, I think the mechanism for implementing mutual assistance between the mainland and Hong Kong for human organ transplantation that I submitted this time still needs to be promoted. Talking about the background of this suggestion, Lin Shunchao shared with reporters a real event that happened in 2022-
In December 2022, a four-month-old baby girl in Hong Kong was successfully matched with a heart donated by a deceased child in mainland China through the Chinese Human Organ Allocation and Sharing Computer System (COTRS). Through the efforts and coordination of various parties, the heart was delivered to Hong Kong and the transplant was completed in Hong Kong. This is also the first cross-boundary organ transplant to be performed in Hong Kong. "The success of this cross-border organ transplant is a source of hope for patients waiting for organ transplants in Hong Kong. "We hope to further promote the establishment of a mutual aid mechanism for human organ transplantation between the Mainland and Hong Kong, and through cross-border cooperation, we can optimize organ allocation and improve transplant efficiency, so as to save more lives." ”
In addition, Lin Shunchao also pays attention to the sharing of real-world data and medical data. He said that real-world data research is an international cutting-edge scientific research. Through perfect data management and professional data analysis, a standardized data research system is established to obtain "real" clinical evidence, so as to promote the sustainable and healthy development of the medical industry. "At this stage, Guangdong and Hong Kong are actively studying data 'crossing the river'. If we can study the open exchange of medical data, we can make use of the advantages of both sides to complement each other, which will provide support for cross-border medical treatment and the development of medical drugs and devices. In this regard, Lin Shunchao suggested that the "Greater Bay Area Real World Data Research Center" should be established in Hong Kong, and a regular data exchange mechanism between Guangdong and Hong Kong should be established.
Yao Jianming, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference:
It is recommended that the Greater Bay Area develop marine biomedicine and health industries.
Yao Jianming, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and vice chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association, focused on the marine biomedicine and health industry. He suggested that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area should give full play to its regional comparative advantages and build a demonstration highland for innovation and entrepreneurship in marine biomedicine and health industry.
Yao Jianming pointed out that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has comparative advantages in national strategy, resource endowment, industrial foundation, cutting-edge research, integrated development of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and international cooperation in the development of marine biomedicine and health industry. At the same time, the development of marine biomedicine in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has problems such as lack of special R&D funds, weak independent innovation capabilities, talent structure to be optimized, difficulties in collecting natural medicine sources, and policy support to be increased, which need to be comprehensively planned and deployed at the national level.
In terms of financial support, Yao Jianming suggested the establishment of the National Marine Biomedical Key R&D Program to provide long-term financial support for basic R&D; Encourage and guide industry enterprises, scientific research institutes, universities and other institutions to carry out targeted research and development of marine biological innovative drugs, order-based health food and functional food; It is recommended that the National Development and Reform Commission, Guangdong Province and other joint professional institutions jointly set up marine biomedical guidance** to attract social capital.
For the construction of the platform, Yao Jianming suggested the construction of a national-level marine biomedical and health industry innovation and research and development platform, and promote Guangdong, Shandong and other strong marine biomedical provinces to sign a strategic cooperation agreement on "marine biomedicine", share basic research and development data and research results, and promote the improvement of the overall scientific and technological innovation strength.
In addition, Yao Jianming also mentioned that the optimization of the R&D and approval system for some marine biomedicine and health care products with similar attributes to traditional Chinese medicine will be piloted in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and can be promoted nationwide after maturity. He said that Hong Kong and Macao can make full use of their leading achievements and international vision in modern medicine and marine biomedicine, establish an integrated industry-university-research platform of the three places, explore the establishment of a "mutual recognition mechanism" for the registration and review of marine biomedical products, realize the mutual recognition and interoperability of marine biomedical drugs and health products in the Greater Bay Area, and promote the international registration of domestic marine biomedical products.