Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ2: Employment of non-local doctors by Hospital Authority
Following is a question by the Dr Hon Leung Ka-lau and a written reply by the
Acting Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative
Council today (February 25):
Question:
Since 2012, the Hospital Authority (HA) has employed non-local doctors with
limited registration. In this connection, will the Government inform this
Council whether it knows:
(1) the following information on the employment of non-local doctors by HA in
each of the years since 2012: (i) the number of applications received by HA from
non-local doctors, (ii) the number of applications for limited registration
submitted by HA to the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK), (iii) the number of
applications approved by MCHK, (iv) the number of non-local doctors working in
HA, (v) the number of people applying for renewal of registration, and (vi) the
number of people granted approval for renewal of registration (set out such
information in a table);
(2) (i) the number of vacancies of doctors, and (ii) the number of vacancies
filled by non-local doctors, in HA in each of the years since 2012, with a
breakdown by hospital cluster and clinical department in the table in Annex 1.
(3) the median and maximum salaries of HA's non-local doctors, as well as their
average working hours per week since 2012, with a tabulated breakdown by year
and clinical department;
(4) the number of non-local doctors with limited registration who are currently
employed by tertiary institutions or private healthcare institutions and, among
such doctors, of the longest number of years for which the registration
concerned has been continuously renewed; and
(5) given that the importation of foreign manpower on a long-term basis will
have impact on local manpower planning in the long run, whether HA has set any
target on the number of imported non-local doctors; if it has, the targets set
since 2012 as well as the short, medium and long term targets set for the
future; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(1) In accordance with section 14A of the Medical Registration Ordinance (Cap
161), the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) may approve the registration of
persons who possess only qualifications for practising medicine outside Hong
Kong as medical practitioners with limited registration, subject to specified
restrictions and conditions. Medical practitioners with limited registration may
engage in teaching, research and hospital work in Hong Kong, including
employment with the Hospital Authority (HA) as full-time medical practitioners
for carrying out research, clinical or hospital work as specified by the HA.
Each approval for limited registration will be valid for a maximum period of one
year, and upon expiry the relevant person may apply for renewal for a period not
exceeding one year.
Details concerning the employment of non-local doctors by the HA in the past
three years are set out in Annex 2.
(2) At present, there are some 5 500 doctors working in the HA. In 2012-13,
2013-14 and 2014-15 the number of doctor vacancies in public hospitals was
around 250, 310 and 340 respectively. There are currently 13 non-local doctors
employed by the HA, who serve in the anaesthesia, emergency medicine, pathology,
family medicine and internal medicine departments. The situation is similar to
that of the past few years.
(3) At present, the median monthly salary of non-local doctors working in the HA
is $92,020 and the maximum is $121,114 per month (both including pay and
allowances). The remuneration is the same as that of a local doctor of
equivalent rank.
There is no difference in the average weekly working hours of non-local doctors
and other HA doctors. As working conditions may vary among specialties, the
average working hours per week for doctors serving different specialties also
differs. According to the data collected by the HA, doctors on average worked
between 48.5 hours and 59.5 hours a week in the second half of 2012, depending
on the specialty in which they work. As for the second half of 2013, the average
working hours for doctors ranged between 43.5 hours and 57.5 hours per week. The
HA is still collecting data for 2014.
(4) As at December 31, 2014, there were a total of 146 medical practitioners
with limited registration in Hong Kong, who were either employed by tertiary
institutions (84 persons), the HA (13 persons), clinics that have been exempted
from the provisions of section 7 of the Medical Clinics Ordinance (34 persons)
or clinics registered under the Medical Clinics Ordinance (15 persons). Of these
medical practitioners, the longest period of practice through repeated renewals
of registration approved by the MCHK is 20 years.
(5) The HA assesses the manpower situation of doctors on a yearly basis.
Recruitment and manpower deployment exercises are conducted in the light of
demand for services, service development needs, turnover rate and manpower
supply in the market. In general, vacancies for Consultant and Associate
Consultant in the HA are filled by internal transfer or promotion of suitable HA
doctors as far as possible. As for vacancies for resident trainees, recruitment
is conducted annually to recruit medical graduates of local universities and
other qualified doctors to fill the posts and for specialist training provided
by the HA. Individual departments may also recruit doctors within the year to
cope with their service and operational needs.
At present, medical practitioners with limited registration serving in the HA
constitute only a very small percentage of the total number of HA doctors.
Locally-trained doctors will continue to be the HA's main source of manpower
supply, while medical practitioners with limited registration will be employed
where necessary to address short-term manpower shortage.
Ends/Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Issued at HKT 15:25
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LCQ2 Annex1
LCQ2 Annex2