The race to become new chief executive of the Hospital Authority has been narrowed to two local doctors, authority chairman Anthony Wu Ting-yuk said yesterday.
The pair, widely believed to be the authority's director of quality and safety, Dr Leung Pak-yin, and cluster services director Dr Cheung Wai-lun, will attend a second-round interview early next month, Wu said.
Leung specialises in infection control and is former controller of the Department of Health's Centre for Health Protection.
Cheung has worked in several administrative posts within the authority, including head of the New Territories West group of hospitals and the authority's director for professional services and operations.
'The shortlisted two are both locals. They are doctors and are the best and the most appropriate candidates,' Wu said after a board meeting yesterday. A seven-member selection panel was unanimous in picking the final two, he said.
The candidates are running to fill the position of Shane Solomon, who suddenly quit in July, less than halfway through his second three-year contract. The 54-year-old Australian is returning home because his father-in-law is seriously ill.
Solomon was the first non-local and non-doctor to take up the position of chief executive. His tenure has been marked by unprecedented openness about medical blunders.