Drop the objections to hiring foreign doctors
There are not enough doctors serving in public hospitals, a situation made worse by the reluctance to allow foreign-trained medics to work in the city
The government spent about HK$6 billion building new hospitals at Tin Shui Wai and North Lantau to meet a growing demand for health services. But the public is being short-changed, because a citywide shortage of doctors is preventing the new hospitals from expanding to full capacity and forcing them to limit emergency services.
Such a mismatch of public investment and social return cannot be right. But it may be unavoidable so long as the medical profession opposes the relaxation of rules inhibiting recruitment of foreign doctors to ease the local shortage.
A record number of doctors quit public hospitals last year, many to join the lucrative private sector, leaving the system 250 doctors short. The best the Hospital Authority can offer foreign-trained doctors is a one-year contract, subject to qualifying terms seen as tough. Unsurprisingly, it has attracted only about a dozen doctors. Alternatives, such as part-time employment of private doctors and retired doctors, have also had limited success.
The Hong Kong Medical Association cites the need to maintain high standards for its tough stance on foreign-trained doctors, which does not reflect the experience with overseas talent of other places with high health care standards.
