Foreign doctors quit Hong Kong public hospitals over licence red tape
Overseas medical specialists say they are leaving scheme to bolster public hospitals as it is too hard to get permanent Hong Kong license
A programme to recruit overseas doctors to ease the chronic manpower shortage at public hospitals is seeing an exodus of talent as at least three of the 11 specialists currently working under the scheme have decided to leave.
The scheme made it too difficult for doctors educated outside of Hong Kong to become permanent practitioners locally, said one Australian specialist who plans to return to his home country next year.
The Australian specialist said that, in a bid to protect jobs for local doctors, the Medical Council created an unfair scheme that would fail to attract the overseas talent it was supposed to.
"I am now leaving with a tinge of sadness," said the doctor, who has worked in a public hospital on Hong Kong Island for two years.
He said the licensing examination made no sense for a specialist, who would have already completed seven years of training after they became a doctor.
"Most of us have families to support and hard-earned specialist careers that we need to continue to develop, and as much as we would like to, we can neither financially nor professionally afford to continue in Hong Kong with the current process required for general registration by the Medical Council," he said.
The scheme, established in 2011, allows doctors educated abroad to take jobs at public hospitals in Hong Kong on a special licence valid for a year. The licence must must be renewed annually by the Medical Council.
But if they want to permanently work as doctors in Hong Kong, they must apply for a general registration, which requires a three-part exam and a 12-month internship.
"In my case, if I were to undertake the current process for general registration, I would in effect be supervised in my internship by the very same junior doctors that I taught several years ago when they were medical students at my hospital," the Australian specialist said.
"Also, can you imagine how I can afford my young family in Hong Kong when my salary has to go back to the pay rate of an intern for one year?
"All three [overseas doctors] who are leaving are facing similar situations."
Interns generally make about HK$20,000 per month, but specialists often earn three or more times that amount.
The scheme to attract foreign medical professionals is just one of several methods the Hospital Authority is using to try to fill the chronic shortage of about 200 doctors throughout the public hospital system.
The shortage is most critical for more experienced specialists, who tend to leave the public system for more lucrative private practices.
But only 17 doctors have come to Hong Kong to work under the scheme since its inception.
Other methods the authority has used to fill the gap include employing private doctors to work part-time in public hospitals and an effort to increase the number of medical graduates from local universities.
A spokesman for the Hospital Authority said since the limited registration approved by the Medical Council was on a one-year basis, the authority could only offer one-year contracts.
Dr Louis Shih Tai-cho, president of the main doctors' union, the Medical Association, said it was crucial for any doctor practising in Hong Kong to have enough experience working locally before getting a general licence.
He said countries such as Britain, the United States and Canada all required licensing exams and internships for overseas practitioners.
Shih suggested that the Hospital Authority consider reducing or waiving the internship requirement for overseas doctors who applied to work in public hospitals because there was a lack of doctors in the public system, not in the private market.
Hong Kong hospitals losing ground as overseas talent goes elsewhere
Hong Kong should remove the "absurd" outdated barriers that are blocking foreign doctors from practicing in the city, an Australian specialist says.
"A process has to be developed which can identify and attract the high-quality specialist doctors in the international world which Hong Kong deserves," he said.
Currently, doctors who have earned their qualifications overseas may work at public hospitals on a one-year limited licence, but they face stiff requirements if they want to practice in Hong Kong permanently. To qualify for a general licence, they must take a three-part exam and do a 12-month internship.
"There are several of us who have the very same international specialist qualifications that local doctors strive to achieve, and [we] have been working and teaching in the public hospital system here for several years," said the Australian, who is currently working in Hong Kong.
"The Medical Council does not recognise this when determining whether they should grant us general registration. The situation is absurd."
In August, Medical Council chairman Professor Joseph Lau Wan-yee said the council had passed a resolution to exempt overseas doctors with specialist qualifications in fields including paediatrics and obstetrics from a clinical examination that forms part of the licensing exam.
It is also considering exempting experienced foreign doctors from the mandatory internship.
But the Australian doctor said that would still be less attractive than in Singapore, where hospitals actively recruit top talent.
"Hong Kong is competing with countries such as Singapore, Australia and the UK for high quality medical talent. These countries automatically recognise appropriately qualified specialists and provide very good work and lifestyle opportunities to attract them," he said.
He said he also felt bad for local doctors in the public system who, because of the ongoing staffing crunch, had few opportunities to travel overseas and gain medical experience.
"Almost all doctors who have just obtained their specialist qualifications traditionally travel overseas for one or two years, to enhance the flow of medical experience and knowledge, but the Hospital Authority only authorises a limited number of six-month overseas observerships for select local doctors."
Overseas talent
Number of overseas-qualified doctors now working in public hospitals in Hong Kong
Anaesthesia: 5
Emergency medicine: 2
Family medicine: 3
Internal medicine: 1
Total: 11 (nine are Hongkongers, two are Australians)
