The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
A Hospital Authority (HA) delegation conducted recruitment events for non-locally trained nurses in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for two consecutive days (August 19 and 20), promoting the latest pathways for working in Hong Kong to the local nursing professionals, with a view to attracting more eligible non-locally trained nurses to serve in Hong Kong's public healthcare sector.
With the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta (HKETO Jakarta), the HA delegation held a recruitment briefing session for local nurses in Kuala Lumpur. Representatives of the Department of Health also participated online. The delegation introduced to the local nurses the latest policies that enable eligible non-locally trained nurses to join Hong Kong's public healthcare institutions without having to take the Licensing Examination.
The HA Director of Cluster Services, Dr Simon Tang, said, "We are delighted to have the opportunity to conduct this nursing recruitment activity in Kuala Lumpur. We were able to introduce the latest policies for working in Hong Kong as well as the working environment and development opportunities in our public hospitals to the local nursing community. The response was very positive, with many participants expressing interests in coming to Hong Kong for career developments. We will organise recruitment activities in more countries and regions in the future to attract more non-locally trained nurses to alleviate the service pressure in our public hospitals."
The HA delegation also visited a medical institution in Kuala Lumpur, and met with representatives from the nursing faculty of a local university with the arrangements of the HKETO Jakarta to learn about the local nursing education and training as well as the latest developments of healthcare services in the region, and to explore opportunity for collaboration on various nursing talent exchange programmes to promote exchanges of nursing expertise and skills between the two places.
Since the passage of the relevant amendments to the Nurses Registration Ordinance by the Legislative Council on July 17, which opened up new pathways for non-locally trained nurses to work in Hong Kong, the HA has subsequently launched related promotion and recruitment activities, including sending representatives to the 35th International Nursing Research Congress held in Singapore last month to introduce the new policies to nurses from different countries and regions, with some having already expressed interest in working in Hong Kong. The HA will stay in contact with them and actively follow up on their applications.
The HA has also been conducting open recruitment for non-locally trained nurses and has received a number of applications and enquiries. The HA is now processing the related applications and enquiries and will arrange interviews and other follow-up activities for shortlisted candidates in due course.
The HA has set up a dedicated team to provide one-stop support and counselling services for non-locally trained nurses interested in coming to Hong Kong. The team will handle enquiries and provide relevant information through hotline, email and instant messaging apps (see Appendix). For individuals who are interested to learn more, they may also visit the HA's website (www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_visitor_index.asp?Content_ID=273898&Lang=ENG).
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