The two medical teaching universities have issued broad guidelines they hope will guarantee appropriate working hours for intern doctors. The guidelines need the Hospital Authority's endorsement but the dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, Professor Grace Tang Wai-king, said the authority was discussing them. 'As teaching institutes for doctors, we are highly concerned about the long working hours of intern doctors. 'We will definitely follow up on the issue,' Professor Tang said yesterday. Speaking after a ceremony to mark the founding of an association to boost Asian medical education, she said the guidelines were expected to take effect by July. They also aim to guarantee sufficient training time for the doctors, she said. The guidelines do not include specific recommendations on how many hours a doctor should work and be trained, which largely depend on individual cases, she said. The authority is reviewing doctors' working hours after a survey by the Public Doctors' Association showed some housemen worked 96 hours a week and were denied days off. Professor Tang said the faculty had yet to decide whether to cut its student intake for the coming year amid fears of an oversupply of doctors. 'There appears to be contradictory facts about supply of doctors. We've got long working hours in wards, which suggest there is not an oversupply,' she said. 'But private doctors say they've got no customers as many people are going to public hospitals. 'The whole problem is a matter of resources allocation. 'Simply cutting our intake cannot solve the problem,' Professor Tang said.
