The loss of staff in the Hospital Authority has not stopped the bleeding. Although the Hong Kong government has earlier passed the exemption for overseas doctors, there are not many doctors coming to Hong Kong.
The Director of the Medical and Health Bureau, Lu Chongmao, accepted an exclusive interview with "Hong Kong 01" and admitted that there are various factors such as immigration waves, which have caused people to lose their hands, and the recruitment of overseas doctors has also been hindered by the epidemic.
He hopes to attract 100 overseas doctors to Hong Kong in a short period of time, but currently only about 10 are willing to come to Hong Kong, which is far from the goal.
He said that among the 75 registered medical schools exempted from examination, universities with many Hong Kong students will "scramble for talents". Next month, the Hospital Authority will send staff to the UK as the first stop.
The Director of the Medical and Health Bureau, Lu Chongmao, accepted an exclusive interview with "Hong Kong 01", revealing that the Hospital Authority will go overseas next month to "snatch talents".
(Photo by Yu Junliang)
Migration, social and political factors in healthcare loss
According to the latest figures, as of October last year, the turnover rate of doctors and nurses in the Hospital Authority was 8.1%, while the turnover rate of nurses was 10.7%.
In addition, according to the budget account data, public hospitals continue to lose medical staff. In 2022/23, there will only be 6,450 doctors, 34 fewer than last year, and among them, there will be 105 fewer specialist doctors.
The Director of the Medical and Health Bureau, Lu Chongmao, admitted that there is a shortage of manpower in the medical field. In terms of doctors, there are currently only 2 doctors per 1,000 people on average, which is much lower than the 2.8 in Singapore and 3 in European and American countries.
"There is a shortage of manpower in Hong Kong. To a certain extent, there are immigration factors, social and political environment and many other reasons." Lo Chongmao admitted that the manpower problem is serious, but he is full of confidence in Hong Kong. "I never thought about it myself. migrant."
He added that different parts of the world are facing the problem of manpower shortage. Hong Kong has increased medical manpower in various ways, including increasing the number of medical students and delaying the retirement age. Hong Kong should also actively attract talents.
The proportion of medical staff in Hong Kong is originally smaller than that of developed countries, and it has faced a serious loss in recent years.
(File photo/photo by Lu Yiming)
The reluctance of overseas doctors to come is related to the closure of customs
However, the measures introduced by Hong Kong in recent years to attract doctors to Hong Kong have not been effective. The Legislative Council earlier passed the "Medical Registration (Amendment) Ordinance 2021", allowing non-locally trained doctors who graduated from designated institutions to work in Hong Kong for five years and then register without examination. However, the number of people coming to Hong Kong so far is not large. Leung Ka-kit, chairman of the Medical College, said at a media tea meeting earlier that after the revision, only a dozen specially registered non-locally trained doctors are currently undergoing assessment.
When asked if he had set a goal for "grabbing talents", Lu Chongmao said that if he could attract 100 doctors in a short period of time, it would show that the bureau has the ability to attract talents. "If there are 100 doctors, I think there will be The capacity is 200, 500, or even 2,000 in the future.”
Lu Chongmao admitted that there is a big gap between the current goal and that only a dozen people are willing to come to Hong Kong after the amendment of the regulations, but he believes that this is related to the "closure" of the epidemic.
Under the tide of immigration, there is a brain drain in Hong Kong.
(File photo/photo by Liang Pengwei)
Looting talents and providing housing and other support
Lu Chongmao revealed that the Hospital Authority will send a team next month to "snatch talents" in places where many Hong Kong people study medicine. The first stop is the United Kingdom: "The Hospital Authority will send a team to some key places. Where our young people in Hong Kong are studying medicine overseas, we will also provide a lot of assistance, giving them housing or other support during the process of moving back.”
Lu Chongmao was the first president of HKU-Shenzhen Hospital.
(File photo/photo by Liang Pengwei)
Overseas doctors stick to English teaching principles
In response to suggestions from political circles that doctors from the mainland should be directly exempted from the examination, Lu Chongmao reiterated that the current principle of introducing overseas doctors must follow the regulations, that is, the doctors must have overseas recognized medical qualifications similar to those of the two universities in Hong Kong. Doctors feel that there is a lot of controversy, and the most important thing is to follow our principles.”
At present, there are 75 non-local medical schools registered without examination, and there are three mainland universities, namely Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University and Wuhan University, but all courses are in English.
When asked whether he would stick to the line of English, he explained that the scope of reviewing overseas recognized medical qualifications is not limited to English-taught courses, but to evaluate whether the courses are similar to the qualifications of the two Hong Kong universities in many aspects. The most important thing to pay attention to is whether there are Hong Kong People read, "This special registration is to hope that young people in Hong Kong will come back."
▼List of three batches of recognized medical qualifications▼
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01 Interview with Lu Chongmao｜Looking forward to the reform of the private hospital system to help the public sector make it difficult to join the mainland procurement bargaining The first interview refuses to be a historian commenting on the past, saying that it will continue to review. 01 Interview with Lu Chongmao｜Next month, the UK will scramble for talents in a short-term plan to recruit 100 overseas doctors and temporarily get more than 10 people
