Elizabeth Cheung

Elizabeth has been a health reporter for the Post's Hong Kong desk since 2014. She covers general medical news, breakthrough medical treatments and research, government policy and hospital blunders. Elizabeth has a Master's Degree in Development Studies.

Under the Chinese Medicine Ordinance, a Chinese medicine is defined as any product composed solely of, for example, any Chinese herbal medicine, or any materials of herbal, animal or mineral original customarily used by the Chinese. Photo: Alamy

Health & Environment

How a drop of something extra helps Chinese medicine evade regulation

13 Dec 2018 - 10:01pm 1

Almost half of the Hongkongers who consume alcohol go binge drinking, survey finds

Health & Environment

Almost half of Hongkongers who consume alcohol go binge drinking

9 Dec 2018 - 10:59pm 4

Cathay Pacific staff to get pay rise as reward for ‘dedication and contribution’ despite airline racking up HK$263 million in losses

Transport

Cathay Pacific staff to get pay rise despite airline losing HK$263 million

7 Dec 2018 - 12:26am 27

Single-child households are the dominant family structure in Hong Kong. Photo: Shutterstock

Health & Environment

Why do only 15 per cent of Hong Kong women want to have a baby?

5 Dec 2018 - 11:45am 98

The coach after the accident. Photo: Felix Wong

Transport

‘Saved by handrail, I cheated death’: survivor recounts horror coach crash

2 Dec 2018 - 12:34pm 3

China suspends all projects of gene-edited baby scientist He Jiankui, and says those involved will be punished

Health & Environment

China says it will punish those involved in gene-edited baby project

29 Nov 2018 - 11:27pm 11

Chinese scientist He Jiankui speaks at the International Summit on Human Genome Editing. Photo: Sam Tsang

Health & Environment

Chinese scientist He Jiankui says he is proud of genetic experiments

29 Nov 2018 - 12:21pm 88

Chinese scientist He Jiankui claims he helped make world's first genetically edited babies: twin girls whose DNA he said he altered. Photo: AP

Science

China to investigate whether gene-edited twin experiment broke law

29 Nov 2018 - 12:41pm 25

Chinese expert in bioethics slams mainland scientist He Jiankui who claims to have created the world’s first gene-edited children

Health & Environment

Chinese bioethics expert slams scientist who claims gene-editing coup

27 Nov 2018 - 9:19pm

17-month-old boy Mark Cheung Ho-yan is suffering from both aortic narrowing and stage four neuroblastoma. Photo: Facebook

Health & Environment

Donation Li Ka Shing Foundation offers hope to cancer child

23 Nov 2018 - 11:14pm 1

Artificial Intelligence could help diagnose cancer in future, say Hong Kong doctors

Health & Environment

Will artificial intelligence one day help doctors spot cancer in patients?

23 Nov 2018 - 12:05pm

Breast cancer cases in Hong Kong increased 59 per cent in the decade to 2016. Photo: Shutterstock

Health & Environment

Growing threat of cancer and how Hong Kong’s No 1 killer is being tackled

22 Nov 2018 - 2:56pm

Types of the disease expected to see the biggest rise in Hong Kong included colorectal, breast and lung cancers.

Health & Environment

Cancer cases in Hong Kong projected to rise by up to 40 per cent by 2030

21 Nov 2018 - 11:25am 2

Poisonous rat bait laid outside Wong Tai Sin Disciplined Services Quarters, after the reports of infections in the area. Photo: Sam Tsang

Health & Environment

One in 100 Hong Kong rats could have hepatitis virus that can infect humans

21 Nov 2018 - 10:23am 4

Some medical groups, including the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, the city’s two medical schools and the Medical Association, have been lobbying for a full ban on e-cigarettes. Photo: Nora Tam

Health & Environment

Hong Kong e-cigarette industry poised to go up in smoke as city mulls ban

20 Nov 2018 - 3:10pm 48

Discarded food waste creates a rats’ paradise in an alley of a market in the same district where a second Hong Kong resident was infected with the hepatitis E virus. Photo: David Wong

Health & Environment

World’s second reported case of rat hepatitis in a human found in Hong Kong

20 Nov 2018 - 12:14am 43

Cathy Lee Chui Chi-kay. Photo: Nora Tam

Health & Environment

Ex-model Cathy Lee on gran’s dementia: ‘I felt bad we ignored signs’

19 Nov 2018 - 11:00am 11

The victim wished to be identified only by the pseudonym Cherry. Photo: Handout

Health & Environment

Botched HK$80,000 nose job ‘was done by doctor with no licence’

18 Nov 2018 - 11:27pm 13

Mainland Chinese tourists gather at the exit of the Hong Kong border checkpoint. Photo: Winson Wong

Hong Kong economy

Tung Chung crowd chaos from mega bridge sees ‘improvement’

18 Nov 2018 - 10:17pm 18

Professor Tony Mok Shu-kam is the first Chinese to be conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Society for Medical Oncology. Photo: Winson Wong

Hong Kong economy

Don’t rely only on government, top oncologist tells young researchers

18 Nov 2018 - 10:17pm 7

Botox is a popular beauty treatment worldwide. Photo: Shutterstock

Health & Environment

Botox: using the world’s deadliest poison as a beauty treatment

15 Nov 2018 - 2:24pm 2

Medical watchdog faces questions after revelations doctor arrested over suspected Botox death in Hong Kong was involved in fatal beauty treatment case in 2003

Law and Crime

Medical watchdog faces questions over Botox doctor’s restored licence

14 Nov 2018 - 9:05am

Floral wreaths at a private service for novelist Louis Cha at the Hong Kong Funeral Home in North Point. Photo: Winson Wong/SCMP

Society

Hong Kong’s elite pay tribute at private vigil for Louis Cha ‘Jin Yong’

13 Nov 2018 - 12:26am 4

The school said all infected pupils were in Primary Five and Six. Photo: Sam Tsang/SCMP

Health & Environment

10th hand, foot and mouth disease case at Tuen Mun school

8 Nov 2018 - 10:51pm

Hong Kong organisations rush to piggyback on viral success of Anyone mascot on social media

Society

Anyone is everywhere, as rush begins to piggyback on mascot’s fame

8 Nov 2018 - 1:07pm 2

The entrance of The Grand Hall at the HKU Centennial Campus. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Education

Hong Kong medical school rejects claims local students turned away

2 Nov 2018 - 7:02am 6

Fees for new waste charging scheme set with ‘restraint’, Hong Kong environment minister Wong Kam-sing says

Health & Environment

Fees for new waste charging scheme set with ‘restraint’, minister says

1 Nov 2018 - 2:41pm 6

Hong Kong issues typhoon signal No 3 as Yutu edges closer to Guangdong coast

Health & Environment

Hong Kong issues typhoon signal No 3 as Yutu edges closer

1 Nov 2018 - 7:58pm 4

Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam. Photo: Dickson Lee

Health & Environment

First for Hong Kong as man has second heart transplant

1 Nov 2018 - 8:31am 1

Hepatitis C affects the liver. Photo: Shutterstock

Health & Environment

Do you have hepatitis C? Study finds only half of sufferers diagnosed

30 Oct 2018 - 10:52pm

The Hospital Authority in Mong Kok. Photo: Felix Wong

Health & Environment

Geriatrician Tony Ko Pat-sing approved to head Hospital Authority

29 Oct 2018 - 10:17pm

Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has come under fire for a massive data breach. Photo:

Law and Crime

Law firm offers group legal action overseas against Cathay data leak

28 Oct 2018 - 5:04pm 39

Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific has come under fire for not disclosing earlier a massive data breach that compromised the personal details of customers. Photo: EPA-EFE

Hong Kong economy

Government weighs in on Cathay data breach, urges airline’s cooperation

27 Oct 2018 - 2:50pm 11

A Chinese white dolphin jumps out of the sea in front of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge off Lantau Island in Hong Kong. Photo: Reuters

Health & Environment

Mega bridge blamed for worker deaths and drop in dolphin numbers

24 Oct 2018 - 12:37am 18

The State Theatre in North Point opened in 1952 but now houses a snooker parlour. Photo: Dickson Lee

Society

Lifeline for historic theatre? Developer looks to buy all of complex

22 Oct 2018 - 10:59pm 4

Dr Donald Li takes top job at World Organisation of Family Doctors
Plans to introduce accreditation scheme for medical clinics in mainland China

Health & Environment

City doctor named president of international health organisation

20 Oct 2018 - 7:43pm 1

A woman pushes an elderly man on a wheelchair in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: EPA

Health & Environment

Hong Kong carers have a ‘high risk’ of health problems, survey finds

18 Oct 2018 - 10:30pm

Commuters try to squeeze onto packed trains at Mong Kok station. Photo: Felix Wong

Transport

MTR signal fault finally fixed after six hours of commuter chaos

16 Oct 2018 - 10:25pm 73

A young man afflicted with hand, foot and mouth disease. Photo: Shutterstock

Health & Environment

HKU researchers discover gene key to hand, foot and mouth disease

16 Oct 2018 - 8:32am

Chan Wing-yee, who suffers from Dandy-walker Syndrome, and her mother Joan Chan Sun-fun, photographed at home in Tuen Mun. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Health & Environment

New foundation aims to ease burden on families with sick children

14 Oct 2018 - 1:49pm 2

As well as providing clinical services, the hospital will serve as a training ground for local practitioners. Photo: Shutterstock

Health & Environment

City’s new Chinese medicine hospital will be ‘flagship institution’

11 Oct 2018 - 10:49pm 8

Doctors’ groups believe e-cigarettes are harmful but those in support of the products say they can help smokers quit traditional cigarettes. Photo: Dickson Lee

Health & Environment

Officials ‘plugging loopholes’ in planned e-cigarettes ban amid industry anger

10 Oct 2018 - 11:05pm 8

Chief Executive Carrie Lam holds a copy of her upcoming policy address. Photo: Handout

Politics

Hong Kong to ban e-cigarettes and other new tobacco products

10 Oct 2018 - 3:57pm 31

Many poor families are forced to wait years for public rental housing in Hong Kong. Photo: Fung Chang

Society

Low-income families in Hong Kong to receive more assistance with housing

7 Oct 2018 - 12:25am 6

On Tuesday afternoon, (left) red paper covering a “democracy wall” at Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University had been torn down, but by Wednesday morning (right) the paper had returned along with the original rules of posting. The university’s student union has threatened to escalate action if the covering is not removed by noon. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Politics

PolyU president slams student union over ‘arbitrary’ rule change

3 Oct 2018 - 11:03pm 23

Earlier this summer, Hong Kong faced a rampant rodent problem. Photo: Alamy

Health & Environment

Hong Kong man is world’s first human found with rat hepatitis E virus

30 Sep 2018 - 11:24pm 55

Globally medical experts are divided on whether vaping and other tobacco alternatives are less harmful than cigarettes. Photo: Nora Tam

Health & Environment

Ban e-cigarettes, medical experts say after ‘shocking’ rise in child use

28 Sep 2018 - 8:09am 10