It's the patients, not awards and fame, that drives surgeon

Intricate brain surgery on Manila bus hostage survivor Jason Leung Song-xue is not the hardest part of the job for Dr Dawson Fong To-sang.

Much more difficult, the Tuen Mun Hospital neurosurgery chief says, is dealing with media hungry for details of the teenager's progress.

'The media loves sensational things, but in medicine, there are not many sensational cases,' he said. 'I need to strike a balance between public interest and patient privacy. Sometimes I do feel that I have overstepped the mark a bit by sharing too much information.'

Fong was speaking before receiving a Hospital Authority outstanding staff award, one of six handed out this year. He said he hoped the award was not given to him simply because of Jason's high-profile case.

'Jason is still on his way to recovery. If the homework has not been submitted, why would the teacher give a grade for it?'

Jason suffered severe brain damage in last August's shooting that killed his father, two younger sisters and five other Hongkongers.

Fong, who began his career in 1979 and has worked in Tuen Mun Hospital for decades, said the workload in the hospital was especially heavy and he had thought about switching to private medicine.