The Innostars Award 2021 winner：

“Doctors should be leaders and innovators, not followers.”

Professor Chung-mau LO

With over three decades of clinical work, teaching, and research experiences, Professor Chung-mau Lo has made distinguished achievements in liver transplant and has been a world-renowned expert in hepatobiliary surgery. Since 2016, Professor Lo has led innovative reforms that made The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital the youngest “3A hospital” in Guangdong, one of Guangdong’s first “High Level- Summit Programme” hospitals, and a pilot hospital under the national plan for High-quality Development of Public Hospitals. 

A Hong Kong Doctor Playing a Key Role in China’s Healthcare Reform 

Professor Lo often refers to The University of Hong Kong- Shenzhen Hospital as his “dream hospital”. With confidence and anticipation in his mind, he took up the new role as the Hospital Chief Executive in Shenzhen in 2016, bringing with him a team from the Faculty of Medicine of The University of Hong Kong. Upon his arrival, the first major challenge he had to face was the medical culture differences between the Mainland and Hong Kong. 

Such “cultural shock” had caused difficulties in implementing the “Hong Kong model”. However, Professor Lo insisted on maintaining the Hospital’s unique features such as an appointment-only system, packaged charges, and the removal of “dripping” (intravenous injection) in outpatient care. He then drastically reformed the salary system, turned the Hospital into the first pilot hospital for using Hong Kong-registered drugs and medical devices, and implemented the Special Support Scheme for chronic disease patients of Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority residing in Guangdong. These measures offer peace of mind for patients regardless of where they seek medical care.

Professor Lo described the “One Country, Two Systems” principle as a catalyst for the Hospital’s achievements. Through experimenting and adopting a modern hospital management system, it benefits from the dual advantages of Shenzhen’s efficiency and Hong Kong’s advanced medical technology. 

Promoting 3A Accreditation System and Chinese Standards on a Global Scale 

Professor Lo believes that there is more work to be done in order to reach the goal of “catching up with the 80-year-old Queen Mary Hospital in five years”. However, he has an even higher ambition in mind: to internationalise China’s 3A hospital accreditation system and extend the “3A standard” to countries across the Belt and Road region. He also aspires to break down healthcare system barriers within the Greater Bay Area by establishing unified standards. 

As the chief of The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital and a benevolent doctor, Professor Lo constantly strives for breakthroughs and is committed to contributing to China’s national healthcare reforms and improving health for the people. “The pursuit of health should never stop and it is a doctor’s lifelong mission to fight diseases,” he said, “Doctors must be revolutionary and innovative to advance medical care development.”