The government is being pressed to reform the Dental Council after it was realised that its chairman, Jeffrey Tsang Yick-sang, has been heading the panel for 17 years.
Medical sector legislator Kwok Ka-ki said he made the discovery when he asked his researchers to check. They found that Dr Tsang was first appointed in 1988.
But under the council's existing appointment system, a member's term is supposedly three years, renewable for another three years.
Dr Tsang's tenure 'seems to deviate from the normal government practice of a six-year tenure', Dr Kwok said.
A spokesman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said the chief executive appoints six dentists, nominated by the Hong Kong Dental Association, to sit on the council.
However, the spokesman failed to explain how Dr Tsang could have remained a member of the council for so long.
According to the ordinance, the chairman of the council shall be elected by the panel members from among themselves.
