Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ19: Pharmaceutical services of public hospitals
Following is a question by the Hon Mrs Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee and a written reply
by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council
today (February 22):
Question:
I have recently received complaints from members of the public about the long
waiting time for collecting medicine from the dispensaries of public hospitals.
A member of the public waited for two hours and 45 minutes before he could
collect three sachets of ordinary cold medicine and a bottle of cough syrup. The
member of the public said that according to his observation, the dispensary
staff did not slacken their efforts or grumble about heavy workload, and the
problem was not due to the staff, but the shortage of manpower. Regarding the
allocation of sufficient manpower by the Hospital Authority (HA) to various
dispensaries of public hospitals to address the issue of manpower shortage, and
to cater the increasing demand of the public on public healthcare services, will
the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the current staff establishments of various dispensaries of
public hospitals;
(b) given the huge fiscal surpluses of the Government in recent years, whether
the Government has any plan to allocate additional resources to HA in order to
increase the manpower of the dispensaries of public hospitals; if it has, of the
details; and
(c) whether it has any plan to increase the number of university places for
training pharmacists, or admit from foreign countries pharmacists who meet the
healthcare standards of Hong Kong; if it has, of the details?
Reply:
President,
The Hospital Authority (HA) is committed to ensuring the efficiency of
pharmaceutical and dispensing services. At present, the average waiting time of
patients at HA's specialist out-patient clinics for drug dispensing services is
about 30 to 45 minutes. During peak hours, the waiting time for drug dispensing
services may be longer. However, cases in which patients have to wait for two
hours or more are rare.
(a) As at the end of 2011, the pharmacy manpower strength of the seven clusters
under HA is as follows:
Clusters Number of Number of
-------- pharmacists dispensers
----------- ----------
Hong Kong East 48 122
Hong Kong West 49 108
Kowloon Central 47 124
Kowloon East 36 112
Kowloon West 100 236
New Territories East 56 167
New Territories West 39 116
Total 375 985
(b) To enhance the quality of pharmaceutical services of public hospitals and
improve medication safety for patients, the Government has allocated additional
resources to HA in recent years for enhancement of the pharmaceutical services
of public hospitals and clinics, including increasing the number of pharmacists
at general out-patient clinics. Over the past two years, HA has recruited 140
additional pharmacy staff. In the coming year, HA plans to recruit about 100
additional pharmacy staff. HA will continue to deploy its manpower with
flexibility and implement appropriate measures, taking into account the daily
operational and service needs, with a view to providing the public with safe and
reliable pharmaceutical services and efficient dispensing services.
(c) Currently, the pharmacy programme of the Chinese University of Hong Kong is
accredited by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Hong Kong (the Board) for
training of pharmacists. Graduates of the programme can be registered as
pharmacists in Hong Kong after completing one-year pharmacy internship training
and passing the relevant assessment.
The University of Hong Kong launched a new Bachelor of Pharmacy programme in
2009 and is applying to the Board for accreditation of the programme. The
accreditation process is at the final stage. If the programme is accredited by
the Board, more than 50 graduates of the degree programmes on pharmacy offered
by the two universities each year can be registered as pharmacists in Hong Kong
after completing one-year pharmacy internship training and passing the
assessment.
Apart from local graduates, those who have studied pharmacy outside Hong Kong
can also enroll in the Pharmacist Registration Examination organised by the
Board if they meet the following criteria:
(1) have completed their tertiary education of not less than three full-time
academic years, or equivalent, in pharmacy;
(2) have registered or be professionally qualified to be registered as a
pharmacist in the country in which they have completed their education in
pharmacy; and
(3) have had relevant pre-registration training and/or post-registration
experience for an aggregate period of not less than one year in the country in
which they have completed their education in pharmacy or in another country.
At present, the Pharmacist Registration Examination is held twice a year, in
June and December respectively. There are three subjects in the Examination,
namely "Pharmacy Legislation in Hong Kong", "Pharmacy Practice" and
"Pharmacology". Applicants who have passed all three subjects can be registered
as pharmacists in Hong Kong. The average passing rate for the three subjects is
about 48% in 2011. In 2007-2011, nearly 300 overseas graduates passed the three
subjects and were approved by the Board for registration as pharmacists in Hong
Kong.
Currently, the recruitment and manpower supply of pharmacists is satisfactory
relative to that of other grades in the public healthcare system. HA will
continue to ensure that there is sufficient manpower for the pharmaceutical and
dispensing services and make appropriate arrangements in manpower planning and
deployment to cope with the service needs.
Ends/Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:22
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