A move by the Hospital Authority to hire overseas doctors to address a staffing crisis will face stiff resistance from a powerful group of local doctors on the Medical Council, which has the power to scupper the plan.
The Medical Association, which has seven seats on the 28-strong Medical Council, is concerned that an overseas recruitment drive could compromise service quality. It is trying to unite with other members to prevent the authority's plan.
Doctors who practise in Hong Kong with 'limited registration' do not need to take the council's licensing examination and can be exempted from a one-year internship. They can also only work at public hospitals and clinics.
Association president Dr Choi Kin, a council member, said the association's seven representatives on the council would vote against applications by the authority for limited registration for overseas doctors it wanted to hire. He thought most of the council's seven directly elected members shared the same view.
Any application for limited registration required a majority vote by the council for approval.
'The Medical Council has to safeguard patient safety,' Choi said. 'The licensing examination is an important tool to assess doctors' ability. The authority should not abuse limited registration to solve a manpower shortage. I am confident there will be 14 votes rejecting the applications.'
The council also has four lay members and 10 representing the Department of Health, the Hospital Authority, the two medical schools and the Academy of Medicine.