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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Leung Ka-lau and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council today (February 25):
Question:
Since 2012, the Hospital Authority (HA) has employed non-local doctors with limited registration. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(1) the following information on the employment of non-local doctors by HA in each of the years since 2012: (i) the number of applications received by HA from non-local doctors, (ii) the number of applications for limited registration submitted by HA to the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK), (iii) the number of applications approved by MCHK, (iv) the number of non-local doctors working in HA, (v) the number of people applying for renewal of registration, and (vi) the number of people granted approval for renewal of registration (set out such information in a table);
(2) (i) the number of vacancies of doctors, and (ii) the number of vacancies filled by non-local doctors, in HA in each of the years since 2012, with a breakdown by hospital cluster and clinical department in the table in Annex 1.
(3) the median and maximum salaries of HA's non-local doctors, as well as their average working hours per week since 2012, with a tabulated breakdown by year and clinical department;
(4) the number of non-local doctors with limited registration who are currently employed by tertiary institutions or private healthcare institutions and, among such doctors, of the longest number of years for which the registration concerned has been continuously renewed; and
(5) given that the importation of foreign manpower on a long-term basis will have impact on local manpower planning in the long run, whether HA has set any target on the number of imported non-local doctors; if it has, the targets set since 2012 as well as the short, medium and long term targets set for the future; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(1) In accordance with section 14A of the Medical Registration Ordinance (Cap 161), the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) may approve the registration of persons who possess only qualifications for practising medicine outside Hong Kong as medical practitioners with limited registration, subject to specified restrictions and conditions. Medical practitioners with limited registration may engage in teaching, research and hospital work in Hong Kong, including employment with the Hospital Authority (HA) as full-time medical practitioners for carrying out research, clinical or hospital work as specified by the HA. Each approval for limited registration will be valid for a maximum period of one year, and upon expiry the relevant person may apply for renewal for a period not exceeding one year.
Details concerning the employment of non-local doctors by the HA in the past three years are set out in Annex 2.
(2) At present, there are some 5 500 doctors working in the HA. In 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 the number of doctor vacancies in public hospitals was around 250, 310 and 340 respectively. There are currently 13 non-local doctors employed by the HA, who serve in the anaesthesia, emergency medicine, pathology, family medicine and internal medicine departments. The situation is similar to that of the past few years.
(3) At present, the median monthly salary of non-local doctors working in the HA is $92,020 and the maximum is $121,114 per month (both including pay and allowances). The remuneration is the same as that of a local doctor of equivalent rank.
There is no difference in the average weekly working hours of non-local doctors and other HA doctors. As working conditions may vary among specialties, the average working hours per week for doctors serving different specialties also differs. According to the data collected by the HA, doctors on average worked between 48.5 hours and 59.5 hours a week in the second half of 2012, depending on the specialty in which they work. As for the second half of 2013, the average working hours for doctors ranged between 43.5 hours and 57.5 hours per week. The HA is still collecting data for 2014.
(4) As at December 31, 2014, there were a total of 146 medical practitioners with limited registration in Hong Kong, who were either employed by tertiary institutions (84 persons), the HA (13 persons), clinics that have been exempted from the provisions of section 7 of the Medical Clinics Ordinance (34 persons) or clinics registered under the Medical Clinics Ordinance (15 persons). Of these medical practitioners, the longest period of practice through repeated renewals of registration approved by the MCHK is 20 years.
(5) The HA assesses the manpower situation of doctors on a yearly basis. Recruitment and manpower deployment exercises are conducted in the light of demand for services, service development needs, turnover rate and manpower supply in the market. In general, vacancies for Consultant and Associate Consultant in the HA are filled by internal transfer or promotion of suitable HA doctors as far as possible. As for vacancies for resident trainees, recruitment is conducted annually to recruit medical graduates of local universities and other qualified doctors to fill the posts and for specialist training provided by the HA. Individual departments may also recruit doctors within the year to cope with their service and operational needs.
At present, medical practitioners with limited registration serving in the HA constitute only a very small percentage of the total number of HA doctors. Locally-trained doctors will continue to be the HA's main source of manpower supply, while medical practitioners with limited registration will be employed where necessary to address short-term manpower shortage.
Ends/Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Issued at HKT 15:25
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