THE newest president of the Hongkong Medical Association, Dr David Fang Jin-sheng, delivered the message in the most refined of tones.
''A decision will be made about whether the matter will be referred to the Medical Council,'' said the Reader in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Hongkong this week.
''No, I can't tell you when that meeting will be, or if the matter will definitely be put to the council. That would be a breach of the rules. I'm afraid I can't comment further on the case.
''But may I add, that it is incorrect to claim, as reported in the media, that we have threatened anyone with disciplinary action.
''Firstly, we never threaten, and secondly, we have no disciplinary power whatsoever. Only the Medical Council has the authority to make such decisions.'' And the question this week was, after the South China Morning Post printed a report that a complaint had been lodged against a Dean of one of the territory's two medical faculties, Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung of the Chinese University: will the Medical Council take such a step? It is a matter of consuming interest to those in the profession. An episodic but constant airing of its dirty linen in a dispute that is divided along the usual lines - the traditional versus the new, the practice of conservative medicine counterpoised against the impatient progress of researchers, the politics behind the allocation of public funding for health services and a monumental clash of personalities.
In this case, it is more complicated because one of the principal players, Professor Li, has broken an unspoken rule of medical practice; he has spoken. Many of his peers believe that he has chosen to conduct a debate on the matter related to his faculty via the media.