Measures to allow young people flourish are welcome

As an interested Hong Kong resident, and a relative newcomer to the city at that, the continued and expanded focus on youth, as detailed in the chief executive’s policy address yesterday, is very welcome.

Efforts to optimise conditions to help Hong Kong’s young people flourish into global citizens absolutely align with my own principles and aims. This should be driven by common sense and pragmatism, not by political ideology.

The proposal to consider granting more government-funded degree places in medicine, dentistry and other health care specialties is welcome and I am sure the relevant universities will cooperate fully.

A quicker and cheaper way to address the shortage of qualified practitioners would be to relax restrictive policies on recognising overseas qualifications.

For example, my wife and I, an orthodontist and a nephrologist, respectively, are both unable to practise locally despite each having more than 20 years of accredited specialist experience in Britain, which is the same jurisdiction that set up and still engages with the Hong Kong medical and dental systems.

If, as suggested in the speech, policies on overseas-qualified health professionals are revised, the manpower issues could be solved overnight.