It is interesting that the complaint came from a fellow doctor, not from any member of the public. It reeks of ugly professional jealousy.

The serious issue confronting the medical profession in Hong Kong is widespread misdiagnosis by bungling doctors who have not picked up a medical journal since leaving medical school. They are better known for their prowess at the mahjong table than for their medical expertise.

In the US, vitamins or other health supplements don't even come within the ambit of the Food and Drug Administration. Dr Chan's case, if you can call it that, is not a medical issue any way you look at it. If she is guilty of misleading advertising, let them go after her for that. If not, the council has no case.

Our medical priesthood is still stuck in Victorian-age ethical pretensions. It forgets that we are living in the consumer age. Lawyers are allowed to advertise. Why not doctors?

The irony is that Dr Chan is already a household name in Hong Kong, appearing on TV and radio talk shows. She doesn't need to advertise her medical practice.

The council is frittering away its credibility over a false issue. It should stop making a fool of itself.

Philip Yeung, Kowloon Tong

Q How can safety be improved for taxi drivers?

Comparing taxi services in Asia, Hong Kong is considered very good. Drivers, however, are not well protected compared to the mainland, where cages (physical or electrical protection) are fitted to defend them from armed attack.

With the abundance of technology available today, a GPS-enabled 'call for help' button could quickly communicate a driver's location to police.

This system could be further expanded to other services making use of the GPS system in the vehicle.

Dunstan Yap

Q What is the best way of tackling the influx of pregnant mainlanders?

The main reason mainlanders come to Hong Kong to give birth is for the residency that the baby will receive.

Therefore the most effective solution to this issue would be to end Hong Kong's status as a special administrative region, giving everyone a Chinese passport (since we are all Chinese anyway).

Then I'll bet no non-locals would come to Hong Kong to give birth.

Joseph Xie, Tin Hau

On other matters...

Another out-of-the-box idea, this time for the Lantau cattle ('Row grows over the removal of Lantau buffaloes', September 28).

Instead of staging a mass cull, which I believe is scheduled for sometime next week, why don't we keep the cows and buffaloes and use them as the star attraction for a twice-yearly running-of-the-bulls style event, a la Pamplona? If we did it on the nearby island of Cheung Chau, which has lots of narrow alleyways similar to those in the Spanish town, it could be quite exciting and would have tourists piling in by the ferryload.

The local triad toughs could show us how hard they really are. We could even get the patron saint of all things cultural on Cheung Chau, Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho, to act as race starter.

The money raised from the bull runs could then be used to buy some land over in south Lantau where the rest of the cattle could do their thing, wallowing in mud and eating grass.

In a few years the Cheung Chau bull run would be an established cultural tradition. Apart from the loss of the odd animal in each race - which could be roasted and eaten anyway - it would be win-win-win: most animals alive, happy locals, happy greenies.

Richard Straw, Happy Valley

I've always found Clarence Tsui's film reviews intelligent, but I fear he slipped up in the one about the Al Gore film (September 28). He wrote: 'Gore has left behind the stilted persona that lost him the White House six years ago'. Tsui has obviously forgotten that what lost Gore the election was cheating at the Florida polls and a biased Supreme Court judge.

He also wrote that Gore 'surely didn't preside over a major drift in US environmental policy during his eight years as [vice-president]', seemingly unaware that Gore wrote Earth in the Balance while in office and pushed for environmental concerns.

Isabel Escoda, Lantau

I'm just wondering if what happened to me the other evening has also happened to other readers. At 11.20pm on Tuesday, I had just reached the door of the No5C KMB bus at the Star Ferry bus stop when the driver slammed the door in my face and attempted to drive off in a hurry. I managed to hit the side of the bus with my bare hand, which made a noise loud enough to make him stop and open the door. I boarded the bus with my sister and our 84-year old father as the driver scowled at us all the while.

As the designated seats for elderly passengers were all occupied by younger people obviously unwilling to give up their seats for anyone, let alone older people, we sat in the row near the driver's seat. The driver drove the bus in the jerky manner of an angry motorist.

At every opportunity he looked back at us with an expression one could only describe as hateful.

My points are, first, that from the very start, if the driver had not noticed me and stopped, he could have easily driven over my feet.

Second, the fact that he was showing his ill-temper in the way he drove the bus caused other passengers to lose their balance.

Third, if there were no other passengers disembarking at the same point that we were, I wonder just what he would have done. Even while we were helping our elderly father into his seat, the erratic driving made it difficult - and it was obviously deliberate. This behaviour is not typical of KMB drivers and, to be fair, it is not always easy to detect pathologically disturbed people, but such drivers ultimately represent a life-threatening hazard to bus passengers.

Having said that, I have to commend the women bus drivers of KMB. They are on the whole better mannered, they keep the comfort of passengers in mind, and they handle their vehicles better than many of the male drivers.

Although I have made a complaint to KMB, the fact remains that with irresponsible drivers behind the wheel, the safety of passengers remains threatened. What can be done to improve the situation?

Ernesto Maurice Corpus,

Hung Hom