In accordance with the Medical Registration Ordinance (MRO), the Registrar of Medical Practitioners (i.e. the Director of Health) announced today (June 17) the seventh batch of 16 medical qualifications (see Annex 1) recognised by the Special Registration Committee (SRC) under the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK). The list will be gazetted tomorrow (June 18) and take effect on the same day. It will be submitted to the Legislative Council for negative vetting on June 24. Together with the first six batches of recognised medical qualifications announced, the SRC has so far recognised a total of 166 medical qualifications (see Annex 2).

     To alleviate frontline manpower shortage and better respond to service needs, the Government has introduced special registration since 2021 to enable qualified non-locally trained doctors to practise in public healthcare institutions. As an important component of various statutory functions of the MCHK, the SRC is responsible for determining the list of recognised medical qualifications upon reviewing the programmes offered by non-local medical schools with quality comparable to those provided by the two medical schools in Hong Kong and submitting the list to the Registrar of Medical Practitioners for promulgation. Through the rigorous assessment work of the SRC, a wide scope of non-local medical qualifications have been recognised, enabling Hong Kong to attract numerous high-quality and globally trained medical talents, thereby strengthening the resilience of the healthcare system as a whole. In recent years, a number of doctors have returned to Hong Kong to practise in public healthcare institutions after completing medical training outside Hong Kong. As of the end of May this year, there were 161 medical practitioners under special registration practising locally.

     The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, said, "The Government has introduced a series of measures in recent years to facilitate the admission of non-locally trained doctors to the local healthcare team. Apart from alleviating the manpower shortage of local doctors, it also brings positive interactions to the local healthcare system, promotes continuous excellence in the overall healthcare standards, and complements the long-term goal of developing Hong Kong into an international health and medical innovation hub. I would like to express my gratitude to the SRC, chaired by Professor Grace Tang, for its tremendous efforts in assessing medical programmes in different regions in the past, which are of paramount importance to ensuring the professional standards of doctors practising in Hong Kong."

     The MRO provides that 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 in Hong Kong (i.e. the Hospital Authority, the Department of Health, the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of 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 recognised medical qualifications but have yet to undergo an internship outside Hong Kong, subject to their fulfilment of the 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.

     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) the curriculum of the programmes leading to the medical qualifications;
     (ii) the medium of instruction of the programmes; and
     (iii) any other aspects the SRC considers appropriate.

Ends/Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:00

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