Coronavirus: hundreds to sit Hong Kong medical school exams this week despite new ban on public gatherings
- Some students express concern over potential health risks, despite assurances desks will be distanced from each other and masks required
- Better to take exams ‘earlier than later’ given unpredictability of pandemic, Chinese University associate dean says
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Chinese University medical schools will hold written exams for hundreds of students this week after receiving special exemptions to a ban on gatherings of more than four people that took effect on Sunday, with the government saying their graduation is critical for the city’s health care system.
Some students scheduled to sit the exams, however, are concerned about the potential health risks and suggested they be postponed in light of the government’s recent delay of the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exams until April 24 and the cancellation of international exams.
The government on Friday announced the implementation of a 14-day ban on groups larger than four amid a surge in Covid-19 cases, with 12 types of exemptions listed. Academic activities were not among those exemptions.
In an email to final year students on Sunday, HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine’s Associate Dean Gilberto Leung Ka-kit said under the Medical Registration Ordinance, students must undergo the required qualifying exam from April 1 to proceed to internship training in July.
Leung added that the Medical Council of Hong Kong, which is responsible for granting provisional registration for the commencement of internships, found it “highly unlikely” that such registration could be given to students before they passed the qualifying exams.