Liong Ching, a new graduate in Chinese medicine, is more optimistic about job prospects now than when she began her course four years ago. She said more and more opportunities are arising at hospitals. 'When I chose to study, I was quite worried that I would not find a job when I graduated. But now I am not so worried,' said Ms Liong, a member of the first batch of 18 students to graduate from the Chinese Medicine programme at Chinese University. She recently sat the Chinese Medicine Practitioner Registration Examination. One possibility Ms Liong is considering is a service to be set up on hospital wards in the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, under which Chinese medicine practitioners would offer diagnostic services to patients. 'The [service] has not yet officially come into being, although it was briefly tried at certain hospitals during the Sars outbreak,' she said. Shen Mang-hin, a student about to start the fourth year of the course, joined the course more out of interest than because of job prospects, and plans to go on and take a master's degree.
