Letters | Hong Kong Medical Council’s repeated cancelling of licensing exams for overseas doctors is unacceptable

Name: ‘Every day we struggle’, doctors overwhelmed treating Covid-19 cases in hospitals around the world
Uploaded: 2021-01-12T22:30:09.000Z
Duration: 3 min 10 s
Description: ‘Every day we struggle’, doctors overwhelmed treating Covid-19 cases in hospitals around the world

Many high-quality doctors from the rest of the world will no longer wish to come to Hong Kong and serve a three-week quarantine only to face the disappointment of yet another cancelled exam

Reading Time:2 minutes

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A rigorous examination system is the appropriate and fair way for non-locally trained doctors to gain full registration in Hong Kong. Even in the UK, where the coronavirus pandemic is worse, the PLAB exam has been held, whereas Hong Kong has cancelled its fifth licensing exam. Photo: Shutterstock

Letters

Published: 6:30am, 13 Jan 2021Updated: 6:30am, 13 Jan 2021

Repeated cancellations of examinations needed by non-locally trained doctors to work in Hong Kong are threatening to undermine the excellent reputation of the medical sector here.

The Medical Registration Ordinance places a statutory duty on the Medical Council of Hong Kong to hold licensing exams. However, since the start of the pandemic, the council has cancelled five exams – two of them written and three clinical – citing Covid-19 concerns. This is tarnishing its reputation. The latest cancellation, last week, was for the clinical part of the Hong Kong Medical Licensing Exam.

This is an unacceptable shirking of responsibility for a professional regulatory body. We would very much like the Medical Council to not only live up to its statutory duty, but also demonstrate clear leadership in finding a way forward despite the pandemic.

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‘Every day we struggle’, doctors overwhelmed treating Covid-19 cases in hospitals around the world

Most other medical exam authorities in Hong Kong have already shown the needed competencies in this regard.

Hong Kong’s two medical schools both successfully carried out their final exams last year. The exams, which involve real patients and a greater number of examinees, are scheduled again for this year. Various specialty colleges in Hong Kong have also resumed clinical examinations. Even in the UK, where the pandemic is worse, the PLAB exam (for medical licensing of doctors who qualified abroad) has been held.

Clinical exams are possible, provided the organising authority is willing to take the initiative and make appropriate arrangements.

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