A record number of complaints against doctors in Hong Kong were filed with the Medical Council last year, particularly during the 79 days of the Occupy protests. In a recent judgment the High Court criticised the self-regulating body’s delay in handling the complaints – up 38 per cent from 452 in 2013 to 624 last year – as “a lamentable state of affairs”. Many complaints were “political in nature”, council chairman Professor Joseph Lau Wan-yee told the South China Morning Post, and were directed against medical practitioners who refused to treat police officers during the Occupy movement. Lau said it showed how the pro-democracy movement had “seriously split” society. “It was not at all surprising that the widely polarised views about the movement were reflected in the many complaints we received last year,” he said. The watchdog usually receives fewer than 500 complaints a year, but only a few dozen are moved forward to disciplinary hearings, with an average waiting time of over two years. Despite a proposal he made over a year ago to speed up council procedures, Lau lamented his hands were tied because the plan was subject to government approval, including funding requests to allow two hearings at the same time and an increase in lay assessors from four to 14. READ MORE: Doctors ‘probed by Medical Council’ for helping at Occupy Central first-aid stations “Even if complaints are obviously ‘frivolous or groundless’ and ought to be dismissed, the preliminary investigation committee chairman still needs to state reasons for dismissal one by one. His decision will also be reviewed by the committee vice-chairman and a lay member. It’s a long process,” he said, adding the waiting time could be slashed to less than a year if the reform plan was implemented. The government is under pressure to reform the council’s complaints mechanism amid criticism over undue delays, especially in the wake of the nine-year fight of former actress Eugina Lau Mei-kuen over the death of her baby son and a complaint against paediatrician Dr Alvin Chan Yee-shing over botched treatment of a boy’s injured finger highlighted in the recent High Court judgment. Liberal Party lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan is introducing a private member’s bill to reform the watchdog’s operations through a doubling of lay council members to eight and preliminary investigation committee lay members to two. Cheung’s proposals will be discussed today by the Legislative Council’s health services panel. In a reply to Post inquiries, a spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said it was still in discussions with the council about increasing the number of lay assessors. READ MORE: Give us a bigger Medical Council to handle complaints, says Hong Kong doctor in wake of scathing court judgment “To ensure that the council secretariat is able to carry out its functions efficiently, the government is reviewing the manpower and other resource requirements of the secretariat and will make corresponding arrangements when necessary.” Local media reported last year that some medical clinics had refused to treat police officers during the Occupy protests, with one posting a notice saying police involved in using tear gas or pepper spray to attack students or civilians were “not welcome”. Some 600 doctors led by the head of the Occupy medical team, Dr Au Yiu-kai, issued a statement condemning police violence, while over 550 doctors, including liver transplant expert Dr Lo Chung-mau, signed a petition that likened the street protests to a “cancer” damaging Hong Kong’s core values. Au said doctors should treat everyone in the same way regardless of their race, religion or political belief, and it was wrong for a doctor to turn away a patient. “But I understand that some doctors with specific beliefs might fear facing accusations about under or overtreatment by police officers who consulted them. So they made such a move to prevent building up a doctor-patient relationship with unwelcome parties,” he said. “This made people feel uncomfortable, but is understandable.”