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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) today (March 16) submitted the applications of two non-local doctors for limited registration to serve in public hospitals to the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK).
Last November, the HA submitted limited registration applications to MCHK for nine non-local doctors in three specialties, namely Anaesthesia (six doctors), Internal Medicine (two doctors) and Emergency Medicine (one doctor). The nine doctors were selected from 160 applications received by the HA in last year's recruitment drive for non-local doctors. The nine applications were subsequently approved by MCHK in January this year. Five selected doctors have reported duty, while the remaining four will report for duty in subsequent months.
The HA Director (Cluster Services), Dr Cheung Wai-lun said, "The HA Task Force of Limited Registration Scheme recently finalised the submissions of another six doctors among the 160 applicants graduated from non-local medical schools, who have applied to work in public hospitals under limited registration.
"The six doctors, five in Family Medicine and one in Psychiatry, were assessed to be eligible for the recruitment exercise, passing the screening by the respective specialty panels and further vetting by the Task Force, and were considered suitable for appointment after interviews by user departments."
The submission to MCHK today includes two applications, one in Family Medicine and the other in Psychiatry. The remaining four applications will be submitted in the coming months when all the appropriate documents are received.
"Family Medicine is one of the specialties facing acute manpower shortfall with over 60 vacancies in various hospital clusters currently," Dr Cheung said.
"As at March 2012, 28 part-time doctors are employed in Family Medicine, providing manpower support equivalent to 10 full-time doctors."
For the specialty of Psychiatry, there are currently 15 vacancies in various clusters. There are now nine part-time doctors providing manpower support equivalent to 4.5 full-time doctors.
Facing stringent doctor manpower shortage, the HA has implemented a series of measures to retain staff through enhancing professional training and providing a better working environment, promotion prospects and remuneration, and launched an active recruitment drive for fully registered local doctors.
"The HA also appreciates the support of enthusiastic private practitioners in working part-time in public hospitals and is now processing the employment of another 10 private doctors who have indicated an interest to work as part-timers in Family Medicine," Dr Cheung added.
The HA reiterated that all six non-local applicants to be submitted for limited registration have passed a specialist training examination overseas, which is comparable to the Intermediate Examinations of the constituent Colleges of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, and have three years or above post-internship experience. They all have license to practise in their residing countries.
"The HA looks forward to the favourable consideration of MCHK for the applications," said Dr Cheung.
Dr Cheung added that the submission of these six applications will conclude the 2011/12 recruitment exercise for non-local doctors. "The HA will assess the latest manpower situation taking into account service demand and the July intake of new doctors. The Task Force will review in the third quarter of 2012 the need for conducting the non-local doctor recruitment exercise in 2012/13."
Ends/Friday, March 16, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:03
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