Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese Email this article Government Homepage
LCQ10: Health care professionals
********************************

    Following is a question by the Hon Joseph Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (October 18):

Question:

     Will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the types of health care professionals who are currently not subject to statutory registration but are allowed to provide health care services to the public, and the respective numbers of such professionals who are employed in the public sector (including all government departments and the Hospital Authority) or private sector, or are engaged in private practice;

(b) why those professionals are allowed to provide services without going through statutory registration, and how the Government regulates such professionals to ensure their service quality;

(c) whether it has discussed with the relevant professions the issue of statutory registration; if it has, of the professions involved, the number, and details and outcome of the discussions; if not, the reasons for that; and

(d) whether it has considered establishing a statutory registration system or following the practice of foreign countries and setting up a health professional council to regulate the above-mentioned professions and handle registration matters; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) At present, there are 12 types of health care professionals that are required to complete statutory registration before they are allowed to practise in Hong Kong. These professions are medical practitioners, dentists, Chinese medicine practitioners, midwives, nurses, pharmacists, medical laboratory technologists, occupational therapists, optometrists, radiographers, physiotherapists and chiropractors.

     The composition of the health services functional constituency of the Legislative Council also includes 15 health care professions which are not subject to statutory registration. They are audiologists, audiology technicians, chiropodists/podiatrists, clinical psychologists, dental surgery assistants, dental technicians/technologists, dental therapists, dietitians, dispensers, educational psychologists, mould laboratory technicians, orthoptists, prosthetists/orthotists, scientific officers (medical) and speech therapists. The numbers of practitioners from these professions employed in the public sector are shown in Annex 1.

     The estimated numbers of practitioners from these professions employed in the private sector or engaged in private practice are shown in Annex 2.

(b) In assessing whether registration system for a health care profession should be introduced, the Administration will take into account the possible hazards caused to the public in case of any misconduct or substandard service by practitioners of that profession. Higher priority will be accorded to health care professions with a larger proportion of practitioners working mainly in the private sector and having more frequent contact with patients.

     Save for dental surgery assistants and dental technicians, the majority of practitioners of the above health care professions not subject to statutory registration work in the public sector where various forms of institutional control over their work are already in place. This in turn provides for certain assurance of the standard of their practice. As for dental technicians, their work does not involve any direct interface with patients, while the work of dental surgery assistants is under the close personal supervision of dentists. Besides, we note that many of the above-mentioned professions have already developed society-based registration.

(c) In the past two years, the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau held three meetings with professional bodies of psychologists, prosthetics/orthotists and dietitians to listen to their views on regulation of their professions. The Bureau encourages these professions to further develop their society-based registration systems so as to provide useful information to consumers in choosing appropriate services.

(d) Different countries and health care systems adopt different modes and scopes in regulating their health care professions based on their actual needs. In assessing the need to introduce statutory regulation for health care professions, we should also have regard to the pros and cons of a statutory registration system on top of the considerations stated in (b) above. With a view to striking a balance, we encourage these healthcare professions to keep up their efforts in developing a society-based registration, and we will continue to listen to the views of various professions and sectors.

Ends/Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:31

NNNN