The Hospital Authority said its compensation offer to 4,000 public doctors for being on call on holidays was fair and had undergone thorough consultation, estimating the package would cost HK$250 million.
'We have listened to the opinions from all levels of staff. This is a reasonable package we came up with,' authority chairman Anthony Wu Ting-yuk said.
His announcement came a day after the Post reported that public doctors would be offered cash for being on call on days off or public holidays.
This was a response to a Court of Final Appeal ruling in October that on-call doctors were entitled to a day off because they were deprived of a rest day, as they needed to be within 30 minutes' reach of the hospital and could not drink alcohol.
Under the package, consultant doctors and senior medical officers are offered HK$95,000, while medical officers are offered HK$10,000 to HK$34,000 according to their specialities and experience.
For example, entry-level accident and emergency, ear, nose and throat, eye, radiology and pathology specialists are offered HK$18,000, whereas those in other specialties are offered HK$10,000.