Hong Kong civil service poll on pay may serve as reference for Hospital Authority

The Hospital Authority might make reference to the government's pay-level survey for civil servants in reviewing its pay adjustment mechanism, its chief executive said after a rare protest by public doctors won the promise of more money.

The survey is conducted by the Civil Service Bureau every six years to compare the salaries of civil servants with those of equivalent jobs in the private sector.

It is used to make any necessary changes to the government's staff remuneration on top of annual civil service pay revisions.

Under the previous survey, conducted in 2013 and adopted earlier this year, senior civil servants earning HK$94,905 or more were granted a 3 per cent rise.

But the Hospital Authority, a statutory body, did not follow suit, triggering the rally on Wednesday that became the largest protest in the local medical sector for eight years.

The authority's chief, Dr Leung Pak-yin, said its board was likely to explore whether the pay-level survey could readily serve as an indicator for future revisions.