TG Wednesday November 5th, 2025
Tripperhead Gazette
TV program and sushi restaurant go head-to-head.
Medical Council on notice after taking 16 years to NOT investigate a malpractice claim.
More foreign passport holders uncovered for this year’s LegCo election.
And HKU takes top spot in the QS Asia rankings.
All this and the rest of Wednesday’s news that matters 👇
• On Monday night, TVB investigative show SCOOP found seafood being illegally imported from the mainland to be used in Hong Kong restaurants.
So far, so good. Brilliant undercover journalism. HOWEVER, it seems the show conflated the fact that the seafood was being imported in sushi chain Sushiro containers also meant Sushiro was using the imported seafood. A claim its parent company and lawyers got very upset about.
Yeah, that could be a costly one for TVB.
• A botched inquiry into an alleged medical malpractice case that took 16 years before the Medical Council abruptly ended the investigation on Monday without a decision now has the Secretary for Health gunning for the Medical Council.
Some back story first; in 2009 a mainland couple came to Hong Kong to give birth at Baptist Hospital, where they allege malpractice by the paediatrician left their son with cerebral palsy and quadriplegia, unable to care for himself for life.
15 years since a complaint was lodged, the Medical Council stayed proceedings on Monday, ironically, because of an 8.5 year procedural delay by their secretariat.
So Health Sec Lo Chung-mau wants an overhaul of the procedures, and the Medical Council is going to have a review of the case on November 22nd “of its own accord”. Here’s hoping that doesn’t take 15 years…
The Hong Kong Medical Association weighed in on Wednesday, stating: “General statements such as ‘awaiting review of the complaint handling procedure’ or ‘pending retrial’ risk being perceived as bureaucratic and unresponsive by both the public and the profession.”
No idea why it took 15 years for everyone to wake up and get involved, but also on Wednesday the Ombudsman’s Office said they are now investigating.
ITHO (In Tripperhead’s Honest Opinion): Secretary Lo needs to clean this mess up. This case has currently broken the public’s trust in the review system, so a) an overhaul seems to be required, and b) a decision in the 16-year-old case needs to be handed down. Anything less will appear that it has been swept under the rug.
• Vivian Kong isn’t alone running in this year’s LegCo elections with the right of abode in a foreign country, with Sing Tao finding another three.
• HKU has overtaken Peking University to get ranked the top uni in Asia.
HKU were pretty chuffed with the result, and had a celebratory card ready to post on social media lickety split.
• The bad news for Hong Kong restaurants keeps getting worse, with Chinese restaurants seemingly in deep trouble.
The news isn’t good for bars & lounges either.
• And finally, an update to yesterday’s story of the man who wished to meet Li Ka-shing.
While it’s a small fry case, I’ll keep an eye on it, mostly because I’m awfully intrigued to find out why he wanted to meet him.
