Overseas doctors should be put to tried and true test of medical standards

According to a Hospital Authority press release (September 21), 29 overseas 'doctor candidates have been assessed to be eligible for further processing to address the acute manpower shortage in certain specialties in public hospitals'.

The Allied Concern Group on the Standard of Medical Services in Hong Kong wishes to point out that this so-called assessment was nothing more than a reading of the applicants' credentials. We do not believe that amounts to a sufficient assessment. Credentials are indicative of abilities, but whether or not these overseas medical graduates meet the standards described on their CVs must be established by a proven assessment method.

This is in order to protect the public.

The Medical Council of Hong Kong has been conducting a licensing examination for overseas graduates for years. Its standard is set by the faculties of medicine of the University of Hong Kong and Chinese University, which also supply the examiners. This is a gold standard which enables the council to protect the public from substandard doctors and it should not be relaxed.

Credentials are used for screening. The council allows applicants to sit the licensing exam only if those credentials are up to an acceptable standard. They are a prerequisite for sitting the exam, but are not in themselves sufficient criteria for obtaining medical registration.

Overseas doctors with highly specialised expertise not available in Hong Kong are often employed by the universities and other institutions. They are regularly exempted from the licensing exam and given limited registration allowing them to practise in the institution that employs them. We are not talking about these experts. We are talking about regular doctors and specialists widely available in Hong Kong (not just in the Hospital Authority).