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Hong Kong passes law to allow non-local nurses to practise, but concerns remain
- Legislators express concerns over quality of nurses, potential language barriers and policy’s effectiveness in solving staffing crunch
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Hong Kong has passed legislation to allow non-locally trained nurses with certain full-time experience to work in the city without having to pass a licensing exam in a bid to alleviate acute manpower shortages in the public health sector.
But in approving the law, legislators on Wednesday also addressed concerns over the quality of the nurses, potential language barriers and the policy’s effectiveness in solving the staffing crunch.
Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said Hong Kong’s demand for medical services would only increase as the population greyed.
“Adequate medical manpower is crucial to maintaining the quality of medical services,” he said before the Nurses Registration (Amendment) Bill 2023 was passed by the Legislative Council.
Lo said that even after increasing the number of places for registered and enrolled nurses from about 2,900 in 2017-18 to nearly 4,500 in 2023-24, the manpower shortage would remain critical in the short and mid term.
“By amending the Nurses Registration Ordinance, we have no intention of changing the role of locally trained medical professionals as a backbone of the city’s medical system,” he said.
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