Students take part in a real-life medical drama

Five pupils have had their first taste of a doctor's life - and found it was nothing like what happens on TVB drama Healing Hands.

'Doctors in the drama are always relaxing. Doctors in real life, however, are extremely busy and have stacks of paperwork waiting for them, even after they get home,' said Angela Yam Pui-woo of Maryknoll Convent School, one of the five pupils, who are all in Form Five.

The Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology at the University of Hong Kong set up a scheme for teenagers this year to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Five students were selected to attend workshops on surgery equipment and acquire first-hand experience by shadowing doctors over a period of two weeks.

The youngsters said they were inspired by the experience - the first offered to non-university students.

La Salle College student Gary Kai Yuen-ming was an apprentice of Dr Margaret Fok Woon-man, an orthopaedic specialist, and he had the opportunity to witness a leg replacement on a boy with bone cancer with an orthopaedic leg brace. 'It made me realise that health cannot be taken for granted and therefore we must treasure what we possess now,' Kai said.

Yam said she was impressed by the passion and the high level of commitment the doctors showed, and appreciated the responsibility of the medical profession.