Hong Kong passes contentious bill allowing more overseas-trained doctors to practise in city, with applications ‘likely to open in third quarter next year’

More doctors from overseas and mainland China can apply to work in Hong Kong as early as next year, the Post has learned, after the legislature passed a contentious bill paving the way for them to practise in the city and help plug a medical manpower shortage.

The Legislative Council on Thursday voted 39-1 to approve the government’s amendment to the Medical Registration Ordinance, ending months of bickering stemming from fierce opposition by the health care sector over concerns that an influx of doctors unfamiliar with the local system would lower standards.

Now that the bill had cleared the final hurdle to become law, a source said, doctors hoping to join the new scheme were likely to be able to apply starting from the end of the third quarter of 2022.

Health minister Sophia Chan Siu-chee told lawmakers the legislation would not replace existing processes.

“The bill is not to replace the system of the licensing exam, but to add a new pathway to let eligible non-locally trained doctors serve in the city’s public health care sector, while ensuring the doctors’ quality,” she said.

Chan said membership of a 10-strong Special Registration Committee, which would be responsible for drafting a list of recognised medical schools whose graduates could be exempted from the city’s licensing exam after meeting certain criteria, could be announced next week.