It all adds up for a top doctor

HIS field is far from glamorous. It involves studying and slicing up the large bowels of people who have been ill for some time, almost half of whom will die of their cancer.

But slightly more will live, and it is Chu Kin-wah's skill with a scalpel and decades of training which allows 60 per cent to check out of his wards and go home.

Above his desk hangs a picture of his sons, seven-year-old Samuel and five-year-old Lomond. The two boys smile proudly as they wear green promotional sashes and brandish small pink cards; the photo was taken at an organ donation drive last year.

Dr Chu is one of Hong Kong's top colorectal surgeons. He is not famous, except to his own family and those of his patients, and is paid on a par with a government architect and assistant government chemist, a package of about $150,000 a month.

He worked for the old Medical and Health Department through the 80s and was among thousands of staff who agreed to switch to a new salary package under the Hospital Authority, established in December 1991.

But as Queen Mary Hospital's chief of service of colorectal surgery, he and his fellow consultants find themselves at the heart of a row over their salaries.

Dr Chu is arguably one of the most deeply involved. His wife and former high school sweetheart, Chan Ka-foon, was promoted to consultant rank at Queen Elizabeth Hospital just this year. Now their family receives double benefits, a phrase which has incensed some politicians and government number-crunchers.