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Huizhou has shown a clear understanding of the Kong and Macau elderly residents’ health care
norms and expectations of cross-border elderly burden and the model of elderly care services.
care services. Dongguang has also participated in the Elderly
Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme,
• Foshan, Dongguan and Huizhou have as its effort to enhance common understanding with
stepped up the exchange and exploration of Hong Kong on sharing health care resources. Finally,
elderly care services systems. Foshan has held the Huicheng District Civil Affairs Bureau of Huizhou
the Conference on the Coordination of Healthcare has initiated in-depth dialogs with the Association of
for Hong Kong and Macao Residents, whereby GBA Elderly Care Industry in search of the prospects
participants explored in-depth the issues of Hong for an all-rounded elderly care services system.

Table 6 Recently issued documents and policies concerning cross-border elderly care in Foshan,
Dongguan and Huizhou

No. Document/policy Issuing authority Date of issue

1 Basic Elderly Care Services List of Huizhou Municipality The General Office of the People’s 17 April 2024
Government of the Huizhou
Municipality

2 Management Norms for Elderly Care Organizations Foshan Civil Affairs Bureau 27 July 2021
3 Management Provisions for Home-based and The General Office of the People’s 17 March 2021
Community-based Elderly Care in the Dongguan Government of the Dongguan
Municipality (Amendments) Municipality

3. The current status of the of the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau.
elderly care industry and synergistic Guangdong Province has named this innovative
development in the Greater Bay Are supervisory measure the Hong Kong and Macao
Medicine and Equipment Connect policy. This policy
As driven by policy-level initiatives, the allows the designated health care providers in the
GBA cities have cooperated in exploring the Chinese mainland to use Hong Kong and Macau
parameters for an appropriate model for medicine and medical equipment in cases of urgent
development. need, thereby enhancing the quality of health
care services. Since 2021, Guangdong Province
3.1. Establishing a platform of cross- has implemented this policy, releasing three lists
border resource sharing with an integrative of designated health care service providers in
approach to health care systems August 2021, February 2023 and September 2024.
According to the official website of the Central
3.1.1. Conduit for international medicine People’s Government, the number of designated
and medical equipment to reach the Chinese hospitals has reached 45, covering all the nine
mainland via The Hong Kong and Macao Mainland cities in the GBA. By the end of August
Medicine and Equipment Connect policy 2024, these designated hospitals have introduced
80 types of medicine and medical equipment from
In 2020, the State Council approved the Work Hong Kong and Macau, benefitting more than 8,000
Plan for Innovative Development in the Supervision patients . The establishment of a cross-border
3
of Drug and Medical Equipment in the Guangdong- health care cooperation mechanism has facilitation
Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. This plan
aims to align the medicine supervision systems 3 "Hong Kong and Macao Medicine and Equipment
Link" Achieves Full Coverage of 9 Mainland Cities in the
Greater Bay Area", Source: Xinhuanet
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