Hong Kong heavyweights unite in drive to win public support for government’s controversial doctors plan
- Deputy leader, finance minister and health chief all extol positives of opening door to non-locally trained doctors
- Health sector has been resistant to move, with some claiming it would compromise quality of care in city
Hong Kong’s top officials have presented a united front to drum up public support for a controversial plan to ease admission rules for non-locally trained doctors, amid increasing resistance from the local health sector.
On their respective blogs on Sunday, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung and Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po laid out arguments for the move, while Secretary for Food and Health Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee sought to clear up what she called “misunderstandings” about the proposed scheme.
Sophia Chan rejected allegations that the government’s proposal effectively bypassed the Medical Council – the watchdog body in charge of registering doctors in the city.
“I must stress that non-locally trained doctors will have to register with the [Medical] Council when they practise in Hong Kong,” she wrote. “And like other local doctors, they will still be subject to the same disciplinary regulations.”
Under the proposal, Hong Kong permanent residents who have graduated from a list of overseas institutions approved by a government-appointed committee can apply for “special registration” to work in the city’s public hospitals. They can apply for full registration after serving for at least five years and passing an on-the-job assessment, without the need to sit the local licensing exam.