‘Nothing to fear’ from potential influx of mainland doctors, says top adviser pushing Hong Kong to allow more medics from outside city
- Tommy Cheung, a member of Carrie Lam’s Executive Council, is calling for the government to further lower the bar for doctors not trained locally to practise in the city
- Administration’s proposed reforms have met stiff opposition across the medical sector, with some worried they open door to mainland-trained doctors
Hong Kong has “nothing to fear” from a potential influx of doctors from mainland China, a top government adviser has said, as he proposed further lowering the threshold for entering the city to practise medicine.
Lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, a long-time proponent of medical sector reform, told the Post that doctors who had worked in reputable institutions outside Hong Kong and those whose parents were permanent residents of the city should also be eligible to take up employment here.
Cheung insisted his motives for seeking to broaden an impending Hong Kong government bill, which is designed to lower the bar for doctors not locally trained, were apolitical and an attempt to improve competition and quality in the profession, as well as to reduce prices and ease staff shortages.
“I can tell you there is nothing to fear about mainland doctors. If I need a liver, or kidney, or heart transplant, I would go and do it in Guangzhou, not Hong Kong,” the veteran politician and businessman said in an interview with the Post.
Renewing his war of words with his detractors in the medical field, Cheung accused some of them of “protectionism”.
“Do you know many schools like Tsinghua, Peking and Fudan universities are world leading? Based on what, do you think you are better than others?” he said.
“Mainland doctors ‘could kill’, some people have repeated that line for 25 years. Just because you’ve said a lie often, doesn’t make it true.”
