York Chow Yat-ngok (; born 1947, Hong Kong), GBS, SBS, MBE, was the

Secretary for Food and Health The Secretary for Health () is a ministerial position in the Hong Kong Government, who heads the Health Bureau. The current office holder is Lo Chung-mau. The position was created on 1 July 2022, following the reshuffle of the principal o ...

of Hong Kong and a member of the Executive Council. He was appointed as Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food in 2004. The position has since been renamed to

from reshuffling in 2007.

History

Chow is an

orthopaedic Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

surgeon by profession. He was appointed Hospital Chief Executive of Queen Mary Hospital in 2001. Chow was appointed a Vice-President of the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and func ...

in 1997. During his studies in the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hon ...

since 1967, he stayed in St. John's College and has served as the male sports captain in the academic years 1968–1969.

Controversies

2011 June protest

On 25 June 2011, a small protest was held by about ten mothers begging on the street for the attention of Chow regarding the mainland Chinese mothers

birth tourism Birth tourism is the practice of traveling to another country for the purpose of giving birth in that country. The main reason for birth tourism is to obtain citizenship for the child in a country with birthright citizenship (''jus soli''). Such ...

issues with hospital capacities. These are families that have a mainland mother and a Hong Kong father. Chow did sympathise with these couples, but nothing was done after the protest. The issue later expanded to the Early 2012 Hong Kong protests which was also triggered by

Kong Qingdong Kong Qingdong (born September 22, 1964) is a controversial Chinese academic, author, talk show host, and social commentator. Kong is a prominent Chinese media figure, known for his vulgar and often brusque critiques on political issues and vario ...

's comment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chow, York 1947 births Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Alumni of St. John's College, University of Hong Kong Government officials of Hong Kong Hong Kong civil servants Hong Kong medical doctors Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Silver Bauhinia Star Recipients of the Gold Bauhinia Star