A growing number of senior government doctors are leaving the Hospital Authority. The latest figures show that 39 consultant and associate consultant physicians left the government between April and July while more than 200 public doctors joined private practice in the past year, of whom about one-third have over 10 years' experience.
Queen Mary Hospital, the teaching hospital of the University of Hong Kong, is the hardest hit, having lost several of its professor-grade doctors, who have all migrated to the private sector.
The mass exodus is affecting all government hospitals and critical staff shortages are causing internal damage to our entire public health system. We must stop the haemorrhaging.
There are many reasons behind the mass departure. But, the root cause is that many public doctors, especially the most experienced, are under-appreciated and overworked. And, to rub salt into the wound, Secretary for Food and Health York Chow Yat-ngok, who is obsessed with the idea of privatising public health care, has put a stranglehold on its long-term development by depriving it of necessary funding and cutting resources.
About a decade ago when Yeoh Eng-kiong was in charge of our public health system, it dominated 90 per cent of the market in terms of medical services, providing care to most Hong Kong people.
This lopsided distribution of health care prompted fierce protest from private practitioners who vehemently pressed the government to redress the imbalance by privatising some services. At the same time, their representatives in the Legislative Council launched an unrelenting attack on senior public doctors, claiming they were vastly overpaid.
Hong Kong doctors are well-respected professionals. The highly qualified consultant physicians and professor-grade doctors have chosen to work in the public sector because they feel passionate about what they do and want to serve the public. Unfortunately, their enthusiasm is being repaid by unfair criticism and thus having their passion eroded by a lack of support.