Letters | Covid-19 a wake-up call to address Hong Kong’s acute shortage of doctors

Readers call for a long-term solution to the manpower shortage in public hospitals, argue that mass testing is a waste of public money, and question the effectiveness of a vaccine pass when many venues are closed

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Medical workers move a patient from a temporary treatment area into a hospital on February 18. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:30am, 28 Feb 2022

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Under the worsening pandemic, the shortage of doctors in our public hospitals has been further laid bare by the ever increasing number of Covid-19 cases. In several accident and emergency departments, it has been reported that doctors and nurses are attending to 60-90 Covid-19 patients each. What has for a long time been an underlying issue in our medical system is now being brought to the fore by the pandemic.

This shortage is reflected in Hong Kong’s per capita doctor ratio, which lags behind other advanced economies. Currently, Hong Kong has a ratio of two doctors per 1,000 residents, below the ratio in Singapore (2.5), Japan (2.5), the United States (2.6), the United Kingdom (3.0) and Australia (3.8). The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development advises an optimal standard of 3.4 doctors per 1,000 citizens, indicating Hong Kong is short of 11,000 doctors.

Although a bill was passed to exempt doctors trained overseas from local exams, it will have limited effect on the shortage. Medical students will remain discouraged by the prospect of having to work in stressful environments in public hospitals for five years.

Without proper solutions, the problem will persist. According to the Healthcare Manpower Projection 2020, there was a shortfall of 660 specialists in the Hospital Authority in 2020. If nothing is done, the shortage is projected to reach 800 in 2030 and 960 in 2040.

Therefore, the government must come up with sustainable solutions for the long term.

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.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Letters | Covid-19 a wake-up call to address Hong Kong’s acute shortage of doctors

Letters | Covid-19 a wake-up call to address Hong Kong’s acute shortage of doctors