In accordance with the Medical Registration Ordinance, the Registrar of Medical Practitioners (i.e. the Director of Health) announced today (June 8) the second batch of 23 medical qualifications (see Annex 1) recognised by the Special Registration Committee (SRC).
 
     The list of the second batch of recognised medical qualifications will be gazetted on June 10 and will take effect on the same day. It will be submitted to the Legislative Council for negative vetting on June 15. Together with the first batch of 27 medical qualifications recognised by the SRC as announced in end-April (see Annex 2), the SRC has so far recommended a total of 50 medical qualifications for recognition. The SRC is pressing ahead with the assessment of other non-local medical programmes, and medical qualifications that fulfil the stipulated criteria will not be excluded during the process. The SRC aims to submit the remaining medical qualifications to be recognised in batches as soon as possible.
 
     The Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, said, "The announcement of the recognised medical qualifications in batches by the SRC enables qualified non-locally trained doctors to come to serve in the public healthcare institutions in Hong Kong through special registration as soon as possible, with a view to alleviating the current shortage of doctors in the public healthcare system. The list of recognised medical qualifications may also serve as a reference for students who intend to study medicine outside Hong Kong and facilitate their choices for further studies. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the SRC Chairperson, Professor Grace Tang, and all of the members for sparing no effort in conducting assessment of non-local medical programmes, and for submitting the two batches of recognised medical qualifications. I am confident that the SRC will be able to complete the task of determining the list within this year."

     In November 2021, the SRC was established under the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) in accordance with the amended Ordinance to determine the list of recognised medical qualifications after reviewing programmes offered by non-local medical schools with quality comparable to those provided by the two medical schools in Hong Kong. The SRC will submit the list to the Registrar of Medical Practitioners for promulgation.

     Under the Ordinance, when determining the list of recognised medical qualifications, the SRC will consider and recommend a medical qualification that fulfils the following criteria:

(a) that is at the level of degree or higher;
(b) that is awarded by a body broadly comparable to any local university awarding medical qualifications in terms of international rankings; and
(c) that is broadly comparable to the medical qualifications awarded by any local university in terms of:
     (i) curriculum of the programmes leading to the medical qualifications;
     (ii) medium of instruction of the programmes; and
     (iii) any other aspects the SRC considers appropriate.

     After the Medical Registration (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 came into effect upon gazettal on October 29, 2021, non-locally trained doctors who possess recognised medical qualifications, subject to their fulfilment of certain criteria, may apply for special registration to practise in the public healthcare institutions (i.e. the Hospital Authority, the Department of Health, the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong) in Hong Kong.  After serving for a certain period, obtaining recognised specialist qualifications and passing the assessment, they will be granted full registration to practise in Hong Kong. For non-locally trained medical graduates who possess the recognised medical qualifications but have yet to undergo internship outside Hong Kong, subject to their fulfilment of relevant criteria, they may take the Licensing Examination of the MCHK in order to apply for special registration to practise in the public healthcare institutions in Hong Kong. They may also obtain full registration after meeting the requirements applicable to all special registration doctors.

Ends/Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Issued at HKT 12:30

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