Transcript of remarks by S for Health at media session
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Reporter: Professor Lo, do you say that there is going to be a minimum service period for public hospital doctors? Could you explain that in a little bit detail? What do you think is a suitable term of service? And does it mean that the reward is not attractive enough to retain talents in the public healthcare system? Thank you.
Secretary for Health: The idea of getting our professionals to serve the public for a certain period of time is not restricted to medical doctors. We are considering that for all the medical related professionals, including the allied health. Because we understand that human resource is one of the most important resources for our healthcare system. And nearly 90 per cent of the citizens of Hong Kong depends on public service. So, we have to ensure that we have adequate staff to provide the service, and that is why we are considering to make service in the public sector a mandatory term for any professionals who are qualified to practice in Hong Kong. And this actually applies also to those non-locally trained professionals. If they come to Hong Kong to practice, we will ensure that they serve a certain period of time in the public sector.
Reporter: What is the proposed time of service?
Secretary for Health: We have no decision yet. We will have to consult all the stakeholders, including professional societies, it is not restricted just to the Medical Association or the Academy of Medicine. But we will be looking at other allied health professionals like nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists as well.
Reporter: Does it mean the reward is not actually attractive enough for professionals to stay in the public sector? Because we are now proposing a mandatory term of service, does it mean the reward is not enough to attract them to stay in the sector?
Secretary for Health: The salary system for professionals in our healthcare system follows a remuneration package and there is a mechanism in deciding on this. We will regularly review that to ensure that it is reasonable and competitive. But of course, there are many reasons for the wastage in the present situation of manpower shortage, this policy of asking the newly qualified professionals to serve the public is one of the measures that we want to improve the current situation.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Saturday, October 29, 2022
Issued at HKT 13:21
Issued at HKT 13:21
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