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Hong Kong needs 11,000 more doctors to meet global standard, local think tank says
- City has 1.9 doctors per 1,000 residents, but development body advises 3.4
- Calls renewed for Medical Council to loosen restrictions on overseas doctors
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Hong Kong needs nearly 11,000 more doctors to bring its public health services in line with international standards, according to a local think that has intensified the debate over recruiting foreign medical staff.
The shortfall estimate came on Wednesday from the Our Hong Kong Foundation, a group founded by former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, as the city’s health authority announced the end of the 14-week peak winter flu season.
The Department of Health said that since the peak season began in January, 356 adults had died of influenza out of the 601 serious cases that were reported, and one child died among 24 serious flu cases involving children.
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Understaffed public hospitals were stretched well beyond capacity throughout the flu season. The shortage renewed a discussion about whether to bring in overseas doctors to relieve the manpower problem in the medical sector. The Hospital Authority said the city was short about 350 doctors at all times, even outside the winter flu season.
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In its latest report, the think tank’s figures were more dire than the government’s official estimate, and suggested the shortage would get worse.
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