
Hong Kong's Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau denied allegations that authorities favor mainland nurses over local candidates, stating that 95% of local nursing applicants were hired by the Hospital Authority in the past year, rising to 99% for those with registered nurse qualifications, and questioned why many graduates do not apply for public hospital jobs.
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Public hospitals in Hong Kong have been struggling to recruit nursing staff, leading to claims that authorities favor mainland nurses over locally trained candidates.
Hong Kong’s health minister has rejected claims that authorities favour mainland nurses over local candidates, saying locally trained professionals have “very good chances” of finding work even as public hospitals struggle to recruit.
Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said on Friday that the Hospital Authority had hired 95 per cent of local applicants for nursing positions over the past year. The figure rose to 99 per cent among applicants with registered nurse qualifications.
He said that more than 4,000 students had graduated with nursing degrees, about 3,500 of whom registered as nurses, but only 2,500 applied for Hospital Authority vacancies.
“So the problem is instead, why there were so many graduates deciding not to apply for [public hospital] jobs?” he told a radio show.

The enterovirus 71 vaccine developed by high-end vaccines was officially launched in Vietnam on the 25th. It was administered in nearly 300 vaccination centers across the country through the local VNVC system. Tens of thousands of registrations poured in on the first day, with children under 3 years old accounting for about 70%, reflecting the high local demand.

Dietitian Lao Gu cited a large-scale prospective study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine and pointed out that compared with people who hardly move, those with the highest daily activity reduce the risk of 13 specific cancers by about 26%; compared with those who walk 5,000 steps a day, walking 7,000 steps reduces the risk by about 11%, and walking 9,000 steps reduces the risk by about 16%. There is no significant relationship between walking speed and cancer risk, indicating that total activity may be more important than speed.

On the 23rd, an abnormal death of poultry was found in a livestock farm in Dayuan District, Taoyuan City. The H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza was confirmed by testing. On the 24th, the Agriculture Bureau completed the culling of about 2,500 guinea fowls and the preparation and destruction of poultry carcasses. It also carried out clearing and control of people and vehicles in the farm area and external roads. It is currently a single confirmed case. Surrounding monitoring continues, and poultry production, sales and supply are not affected.

A couple in their 50s from Changhua County traveled to Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam in mid-September. After returning home, they developed symptoms such as fever and muscle pain. After rapid screening, they were diagnosed with imported dengue fever. The CDC stated that the 21 people in the group were distributed in Taichung, Tainan, Hsinchu, Nantou and other counties and cities. Health tracking has been conducted to rule out local infection. It called on Chinese people to go to dengue fever-endemic areas to prevent mosquito bites, seek medical treatment if they feel unwell within two weeks after returning home, and inform their travel history.

The Changhua County Government and Tunghai University have cooperated to launch 15 free pesticide rapid inspection services for high-risk crops. Results will be available on the same day as soon as farmers submit them for inspection. About 140 of the 1,286 rapid inspections were unqualified, with a failure rate of 11%. County councilor Wu Weida pointed out that the county government should explain whether all unqualified agricultural products are intercepted before they are put on the market. Agriculture Director Guo Zhishan explained that unqualified products will be required to be delayed in harvesting and re-inspected before they can be sold, and will strengthen drug safety propaganda and set up collection points.

Nutritionist Sun Yukuo pointed out that generally healthy adults consuming 1 to 3 eggs per day will not significantly affect blood cholesterol, but for those with high cholesterol or abnormal blood lipids, only one egg per day is recommended, and emphasized the importance of cooking methods and overall dietary structure.