I write in support of Selina Chow's proposed bill regarding exemption for our Hong Kong students currently studying medicine overseas. C. K. Lau's piece headlined, 'Doctors' selfish stand' (South China Morning Post, March 6) says it all.
On a short-term basis, the new ruling is very unfair to the Hong Kong students who made that choice in good faith that their qualification would be fully recognised in Hong Kong.
It is shameful enough that the anomaly was made in the first place, but the closed-minded attitude of members of the medical profession towards Selina Chow's remedial action smacks of arrogance and pettiness.
At the same time, how does the Medical Council justify its 'promise' of lobbying overseas authorities to grant internship to our overseas students when it is so indifferent to the plight of these students? In the long term, the ordinance in its present state, will discourage students from seeking overseas training, which in turn will reduce the local medical community's exposure to the outside world. In the end, it is Hong Kong that loses out.
We have always benefited from overseas returnees who bring with them skills and perspectives that augment those of the local graduates. The new development can only result in an insularity that is a step backwards for Hong Kong's medical profession as a whole.
The high standards Hong Kong is proud of must, of course, be maintained, but they should not be maintained by discouraging Hong Kong's brightest and best from seeking professional training overseas and not at the expense of those who have already taken up overseas training before our lawmakers decided to change the rules.