In the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is most heart-breaking to see the outbreaks in elderly homes. To relieve the severe pressure on the public healthcare system, holding centres were quickly established to provide medical and caring services to resident elderly COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms.

With its well-recognised strength in Chinese medicine (CM), HKBU was appointed by the HKSAR Government as one of the operators of the Kai Tak Holding Centre, and the University has been operating 393 beds since 31 March 2022. A team of 11 Chinese medicine practitioners were dispatched to provide CM treatment services to the elderly residing in the Centre. They are being supported by the on-site doctors and pharmacists, as well as the care workers from the Mainland, who take care of the other medical and pharmaceutical needs of the elders.

As the sole CM service provider in the Centre, the HKBU team also provides a Chinese medicine prescription service for the rest of the beds in the Centre, offering more diverse treatment options to the patients.

"We deeply believe that Chinese medicine can play a more active role in Hong Kong's fight against the pandemic. The appointment of HKBU as an operator of 393 beds in the Kai Tak Holding Centre provides an opportunity for the University to leverage its strengths in Chinese medicine clinical service and research, and it also allows us to demonstrate our caring spirit by offering appropriate treatments to more COVID-19 patients," said Professor Alexander Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU.