Hong Kong actor Ng Man Tat reportedly in hospital after cancer surgery

Hong Kong actor Ng Man Tat is seriously ill and in hospital, the Hong Kong media has reported.

Ng, 70, was admitted to hospital on Saturday (Feb 20) after returning to Hong Kong and is currently warded in the oncology department of a hospital, Ming Pao Daily News reported. The report said Ng had previously sought treatment in Macau.

His good friend, actor Tenky Tin, told the media late on Sunday that Ng has called him after surgery and said "the worst is over".

Friends who have visited Ng in hospital also said he is fine now and that his wife is with him.

There were concerns about Ng's health after he was seen in an online video in early February clutching his chest with a painful look while filming a promotional video for a movie.

He also looked thin in a photo posted by Chinese actor Shi Xiaolong on social media last October.

Ng, who was warded in the intensive care unit in 2014 due to heart failure from a viral infection, recounted the experience recently on Chinese reality show Trump Card and said that he had felt like he was dying.

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Tin previously told the media that Ng had told him about two months ago that he was suffering from poor health.

But Tin added that Ng, who is based in China, had not replied to his messages since then.

Ng, who is famous for acting in Stephen Chow movies such as Hail The Judge (1994) and the two-part A Chinese Odyssey (1995), has not collaborated with Chow since Shaolin Soccer in 2001.

Ng said he and Chow did not fall out with each other, although their friendship was not like before.

He would not rule out working with Chow again, saying: "There will be opportunities if I have not died and he has not retired."

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.