************************************************************
The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
In response to the concerns expressed by a group of medical professionals today (October 26) towards the Hospital Authority's (HA) recruitment of non-local doctors to practise with limited registration, the HA spokesperson issued the following statement:
It has been a long-standing practice for local universities and medical institutions, including the HA, to recruit doctors graduated from medical schools outside Hong Kong to practise with limited registration. Currently, there are around 160 doctors practising in Hong Kong with limited registration at designated medical institutions.
In view of the stringent doctor manpower shortage problems faced by a number of specialty departments in public hospitals in recent years, the HA has already implemented a series of measures to retain staff, such as through additional promotion posts and a special honorarium scheme. Despite strenuous efforts to recruit more full-time and part-time local doctors, certain specialty departments still have serious problems of manpower shortfall. The HA therefore decided to attempt recruiting overseas doctors to practise with limited registration. As the recruitment initiatives will have an impact on the clinical services of various specialties, the HA attaches great importance to ensuring the quality of the candidates. Hence, a special Task Force has been set up to scrutinise the qualification and experience of the applicants.
The specialist qualifications and experience of the applicants will have to be screened by specialty panels comprising Chairmen and Training Subcommittee Chairmen of the Central Co-ordinating Committees of the respective specialties, before being submitted to the Task Force for further verification.
The Task Force meeting held in September reviewed the applications of 160 non-local doctors. Among the applicants, at least 29 possessed a specialist qualification comparable to the Intermediate Examinations of the constituent Colleges of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine. Some of them have already attained full specialist qualifications overseas. As they also meet the language ability requirements, their applications were assessed to be eligible for further processing and recruitment.
The first batch of more than 10 applicants have been arranged for interview with the clinical departments in need. Subject to the agreement of the user departments to appoint these doctors, the HA will proceed with submitting the applications to the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) for approval of limited registration.
The HA reiterates that the Task Force has neither the intention nor the authority to undermine the statutory and professional role of the MCHK in assessing the credentials of medical professionals. With the prime objective of upholding the specialist service standards of public hospitals, the Task Force will conduct a stringent screening of applicants before submission to MCHK for further consideration.
The HA is fully aware that the application for limited registration has to be submitted on an annual basis and will process the applications from overseas doctors according to the established mechanism. The contract terms, regardless of duration, will be effective on condition that the doctors concerned can be granted approval for practise with limited registration.
All doctors granted for limited registration practice will only be permitted to practise in public hospitals under supervision. These are service posts but not specialist training posts and hence will not affect the specialist training opportunities of local doctors.
In parallel with the recruitment of non-local doctors, the HA will continue its efforts in recruiting local part-time and full-time doctors. Through the multi-pronged approach in strengthening manpower and alleviating the work pressure of frontline doctors, the HA strives to maintain the standard of public hospital services.
Ends/Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Issued at HKT 17:17
NNNN
