Paediatrician and government advisor Lam Ching-choi said the government is seeking to relax restrictions on the circulation of information among different departments as a way to identify vulnerable persons caught up in difficult mental health situations.

Lam, who chairs the advisory committee on mental health and sits on the Executive Council, made the comment on an RTHK programme on Saturday, after the police said a female suspect who allegedly killed two people who were under her care in a Sham Shui Po murder incident on Monday had been under tremendous stress.

He said families in such situations often receive multiple services from the government but that different departments found it hard to step in and provide assistance due to restricted information flows caused by a culture of privacy protection.

"We are aware that our phones collect a lot of personal information every day, but we are not concerned by that," Lam said.

"But when it comes to the most helpful data, that collected by the government, we are very nervous and make sure that another unit will not know that we are using a particular service."

"We have to change this kind of culture as soon as possible," Lam said, adding that the government is willing to expand the volume of mental health services it provides but that the key lies in how to find such persons and allocate suitable services for them.

He said the government is currently discussing the matter with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.

Lam also said the committee will introduce another three-tier emergency framework to strengthen ways of identifying potential mental health cases by the end of the year.

He also stressed the importance of having such a mechanism set up in different settings, including schools, workplaces and among peers, so as to enable prevention and early intervention when it comes to mental health issues.

A school-based three-tier emergency system was rolled out in December 2023 and will be extended until the end of the year.