Advocate Exemption for Overseas Doctors | The Hong Kong Government Starts a No-Smoke War

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Written by: Zhu Haiqi

2021-04-27 08:00

Last update date: 2021-04-27 08:00

"Being owed to doctors, waiting on the line, and difficult to see the disease" is the past and present life of Hong Kong's medical mountain.

To move the mountains away, the government intends to establish a new system to attract foreign aid. First, the authorities will establish a list of overseas medical schools that allow Hong Kong doctors with specialist qualifications to work in public hospitals and other public institutions for five years.

This group of doctors can be officially registered without examinations. In other words, after the five-year contract, they can freely practice in the private market and reverse the current medical regulatory system. Chief Executive Carrie Lam described this as "fighting a battle without gunsmoke."

Some Hong Kong people who studied medicine in the United Kingdom and Australia believe that the new plan provides one more choice, but the housing, working environment and political situation need to be considered when returning to Hong Kong for development. It is expected that it will not attract many people back. People who want to return are only making people who want to return come back sooner."

Foreign input prevention and multiple checkpoints are used to prevent viruses. To increase the supply of foreign doctors, it is necessary to break down the walls and encourage return.

The Food and Health Bureau proposed a "special registration" system earlier this year to allow Hong Kong permanent residents who have approved 100 overseas medical schools to work in the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, the Department of Health, the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University School of Medicine after obtaining the specialist qualifications5 In 2015, he was formally registered without examinations, and he could practice in the private market.

Wu Kangyu, former chairman of the Hong Kong Medical Association of the United Kingdom, accepted an interview with "Hong Kong 01" and revealed that he graduated from Keele University School of Medicine in the United Kingdom last year (2020) and officially practiced medicine.

He recalled that when he was still the chairman in 2018, the Director of the Food and Health Bureau, Chen Zhaoshi, and the Chief Administrative Manager (Medical Grade) of the Hospital Authority, Huang Mingxin, also met with the medical department in Hong Kong.

Wu Kangyu believes that Chen Zhaoshi is enthusiastic about introducing overseas doctors. "He wants to know that a large group of overseas doctors have bleating needs, but also have bleaching difficulties." In the same year, Chief Secretary for Administration Zhang Jianzong and then Chairman of the Hospital Authority, Liang Zhiren, went to London, England. , To introduce Hong Kong's medical system and methods for overseas doctors to return.

Three years later, the Hong Kong government officially waved to overseas doctors and offered to "exempt from examinations" and return.

Wu Kangyu supports it to a certain extent, but there is still no specific details about it. "How many specialist training positions are there? If there are too few places, I won't return. Doing a bad job will not help me in my career. I would rather stay in the UK."

Wu Kangyu was born and grew up in Hong Kong. It was not until Form Three that he left the country and went to England. "It's like me, my friends and business people are all in Hong Kong, and I want to go back. My family doesn't want the exam to be a checkpoint. But what about people who are older than me and who have moved overseas as a family? Hong Kong’s housing problems are serious, and whether there is a subsidy is worth discussing.” He described the Hong Kong government’s “special registration” proposal, “not attractive to itself. People who don’t want to return, just make those who want to return soon.” It is estimated that about 30 Hong Kong medical students return to Hong Kong every year in the United Kingdom.

About 40 doctors and medical students interviewed are willing to return

Wu Kangyu revealed that the British Hong Kong Medical Association issued questionnaires to 400 to 500 members, including doctors and medical students, to understand the members’ position on the government’s “special registration” proposal and whether they would return to Hong Kong after the “examination exemption”. In the end, there were 57 People responded that nearly 60% of people strongly disagree or disagree. Hong Kong doctors who graduated from the UK must take an exam when they return; more than 60% agree to "special registration" to introduce overseas doctors, effectively alleviating the shortage of doctors in Hong Kong; 72% said After passing the "special registration", the Legislative Council is willing to return to practice.

Wu Kangyu, who is in the United Kingdom, will probably return to Hong Kong. However, Ah Yi (a pseudonym), an Australian medical student who is currently stranded in Hong Kong due to the epidemic, decided to stay in Australia and join Xinglin after graduation. "Australia Work-life Balance (work-life balance) ), at least I don’t think I’m too tired as soon as I’m off work, so I’m just teaching in the house, and I have to go back to Shift (round shift) after I’m done.”

At only 21 years old, she has imagined living around the clock and forgetting meals in a public hospital in Hong Kong. She hopes to take off her white robe and "have time to do what I want to do, such as going down the mountain or going out to play."

Extended reading: Overseas doctors｜Australian medical students refused to return to Hong Kong to escape the epidemic

The political situation in Hong Kong

In addition to the working environment, the political climate is also very important to be able to make people feel at ease.

Seeing the social turmoil and a series of political changes in the anti-amendment legislation in 2019, Ah Yi quoted her peers' feelings that the political situation in Hong Kong was irritating and stunned, and she was reluctant to return to Hong Kong after graduation because the doctors were not only in the hospital. Work is connected to society. I am dissatisfied with what the government has done to my contemporaries, and I do not want the next generation to experience sadness again.

According to her, the number of friends next to them returning to Hong Kong after graduation is very few.

The Food and Health Bureau plans to submit related bills to the Legislative Council in the second quarter of this year. After the bill is passed, a special registration committee will be established to formulate a list of approved medical schools based on professional and objective standards. It also mentioned that overseas doctors do not have to pass " "Special registration" returns, and the authorities will continue to retain the existing practising qualification examination and limited registration system.

According to the Hospital Authority, in March and July last year, the Hong Kong Medical Association of the United Kingdom and the Hong Kong Medical Association of Australia jointly organized online recruitment seminars to introduce the authorities’ limited practice registration plan to local medical students and doctors. On April 10, another online seminar will be held jointly with the British Hong Kong Medical Association, and will continue to liaise with local medical associations to promote the limited practice registration scheme.

When asked about the latest arrangements for specialist training for overseas doctors, the Hospital Authority stated that it has been consulting with stakeholders such as the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine and the Medical Council to allow them to continue to receive specialist training during their work in Hong Kong. The Hospital Authority has also obtained approval from the Medical Commission. Approved by the Association, relevant doctors can be assigned to different departments of public hospitals in response to training and service needs. At present, many medical colleges have accepted limited registered overseas doctors to continue their specialized training in Hong Kong. The specific training situation depends on the medical colleges. arrangement.

Chen Zhaoshi described the anti-regulation incident as a "black storm", referring to the incident affecting overseas doctors to come to Hong Kong

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