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Following is a question by the Hon Priscilla Leung and an oral reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (February 18):
Question:
According to the transitional arrangements under the registration system for Chinese Medicine Practitioners (CMPs), persons practising Chinese medicine on January 3, 2000 may have their names entered on a list as listed CMPs. Except those who have been practising for a specified period and/or have obtained the required academic qualifications and shall thus be granted exemption, listed CMPs are required to pass the Registration Assessment or Licensing Examination before they are qualified to apply for registration as registered CMPs. It has been noted that quite a number of listed CMPs are worried that they will be disqualified from practice in the future because they are unable to meet the above requirements, and thus will lose their means of living. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the latest number of listed CMPs and, among them, the number of those who had attempted the Licensing Examination but failed to obtain the qualification for registration;
(b) whether the Government will directly subsidise listed CMPs to attend approved training courses and establish a Chinese medicine hospital in Hong Kong to provide internship opportunities for them, so as to help them obtain the qualifications for registration as early as possible; and
(c) given that listed CMPs who had been practising Chinese medicine in Hong Kong continuously for not less than 15 years immediately before January 3, 2000 shall be exempted from the Licensing Examination and Registration Assessment and allowed to apply for registration as registered CMPs directly, whether the authorities will consider accepting the suggestion of the trade that in sympathy with the elderly listed CMPs as they have difficulties with the training and examinations, and allowing those whose length of practice in Chinese medicine reaches 15 years only after the above date to apply for registration as registered CMPs directly, or implementing other measures to facilitate their registration?
Reply:
President,
The registration system for Chinese medicine practitioners (CMPs) was implemented in 2000 in accordance with the Chinese Medicine Ordinance (CMO). The Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong (CMCHK) is the regulatory body set up under the CMO. Its Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board (the "Practitioners Board") is responsible for regulating the CMPs in Hong Kong.
The registration system for CMPs was an important issue in the drafting of the CMO. The Legislative Council discussed the matter in detail, and the Government also consulted various sectors of the community, including the Chinese medicine sector. When introducing the statutory regulatory system of CMPs, the Administration was aware that there were then quite a number of practising CMPs. It therefore provided transitional arrangements under the CMO for these practising CMPs to continue their practice as listed CMPs in the interim while preparing for the examination to obtain the registration status.
In accordance with section 90 of the CMO, CMPs who were practising Chinese medicine in Hong Kong on January 3, 2000 could apply with the Practitioners Board for registration as listed CMPs under the transitional arrangements for registration of CMPs from August 16, 2000 to December 30, 2000. The applicant may continue practising Chinese medicine until his/her name has been removed from the list of listed CMPs maintained by the Practitioners Board; his/her application for registration has been refused; or such date as may be specified by the Secretary for Food and Health. In addition, based on their practising experience and academic qualifications, listed CMPs are allowed to get registration through three avenues specified in the CMO as follows:
(i) as at January 3, 2000, those CMPs with not less than 15 years of continuous practising experience, or with not less than 10 years of continuous practising experience and recognised academic qualifications, could get registration without the need to go through any examination or assessment;
(ii) as at January 3, 2000, those CMPs with at least 10 years of continuous practising experience but without recognised academic qualifications, or with less than 10 years of continuous practising experience and recognised academic qualifications could get registration by passing a one-off Registration Assessment;
(iii) other listed CMPs or those listed CMPs who had failed the Registration Assessment are required to get registration through the Licensing Examination.
The Practitioners Board announced a total of 7,707 listed CMPs in December 2001. Since then, quite a number of listed CMPs have become registered CMPs through direction registration, Registration Assessment or the Licensing Examination.
My replies to the three parts of the question are as follows:
(a) From 2003 to 2008, there were 1,565 listed CMPs taking the Licensing Examination. Among them, 647 passed the Licensing Examination and became registered CMPs. As at January 31, 2009, there were still 2,822 listed CMPs. Of these listed CMPs, 1,832 have never applied for undertaking the Licensing Examination.
(b) Since the gradual implementation of the registration system for CMPs in 2000, local Chinese medicine associations have been organising courses to help listed CMPs to get registered. The fees of most of these courses are low, and some of these Chinese medicine associations have, having regard to individual circumstances, waived the fees for the students.
In addition, to enhance the examination skills of the candidates, including listed CMPs, the Department of Health (DH) has organised talks on examination skills annually since 2003 to familiarise them with the format of the Licensing Examination so as to help them better demonstrate their knowledge and skills in medicine in the examination. Since 2007, the DH has included a session on "common mistakes of candidates" in the talks. The DH will continue to organise such talks. At present, we have no plans to directly subsidise listed CMPs to attend training courses.
In the past few years, the Government has actively implemented the plan of setting up Chinese medicine clinics (CMCs). So far, 12 public CMCs have been established. Another two in Sha Tin and Cheung Sha Wan will come into operation in February and March respectively. Every public CMC is required to engage at least five Chinese Medicine degree courses graduates as junior CMPs so as to provide them with training opportunities. We are open-minded to the proposal of setting up a Chinese medicine hospital. We will study it carefully and listen to views from the relevant professions.
(c) To encourage the listed CMPs to take part in the CMP Licensing Examination on the premise of not compromising the professional standard in Chinese medicine practice, the Practitioners Board has introduced some new arrangements in the 2007 Examination, including:
(i) allowing the candidates to retain a pass in any one paper of the written examination taken in or after 2007 for three years and to re-sit the other paper;
(ii) simplifying the question form of multiple-choice questions in the written examination;
(iii) re-grouping the 20 subjects of the written examination into 13 subjects; and
(iv) allowing candidates to choose clinical cases to answer.
The transitional arrangements for registration of CMPs were the result of adequate consultation and discussion by the various sectors of the community including the Chinese medical profession. The arrangements were established through the enactment of the CMO by the Legislative Council. Sections 93 and 94 of the CMO provide that only the continuous period of practice of Chinese medicine immediately before January 3, 2000 will be considered in assessing the practising experience of a listed Chinese medicine practitioner. The Practitioners Board also assessed the registration status of the listed CMPs in accordance with the CMO, and announced the assessment results in September 2002. To uphold the professional standards of the registered CMPs, safeguard public health and ensure the fairness and impartiality of the transitional arrangements, the Administration has no intention to amend the relevant provisions. As indicated above, the listed CMPs can continue their practice until a date to be specified by me. I have no plan to specify this date at the moment.
Ends/Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Issued at HKT 13:16
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