Hong Kong doctors back fight for democracy with new group

Long queues of patients and limited resources have left many public hospital doctors immensely frustrated. But for Dr Joseph Lo Man-wai the source of frustration is something else entirely: the government's intransigence in the face of demands for genuine democracy.

Lo, an associate consultant in internal medicine at a public hospital, was one of more than 700 doctors and dentists to sign a joint statement in support of the Occupy Central campaign at the height of the student-led sit-ins in October. He and friends have now formed a concern group, Médecins Inspirés, to raise awareness of the fight for political reform in the medical sector.

"The government still stuck to its own course even after tens of thousands of Hongkongers took to the streets," Lo says of the street protests. "They seem to like hearing what people say, but they are not actually listening."

The new group, which has about 20 active members, argues that Beijing was wrong to set a stringent framework on who could run for chief executive in 2017 in August, given that Hong Kong had not yet put forward its reform proposal.

"The public might think doctors are busy and being indifferent to social and political issues, but we are also ordinary Hongkongers and we care about our city's future," he said.

Another demand is that Dr Leung Ka-lau, the medical sector's representative in the Legislative Council, survey the views of his constituents: the city's 13,000 registered doctors and 2,300 dentists. Leung is a potential swing voter when the government's final reform package reaches Legco, where a two-thirds majority is needed and pan-democrats have pledged a veto.