Hospital Authority submits limited registration applications

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority (HA) today (May 10) submitted to the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) the applications of seven non-locally trained doctors for limited registration to serve in public hospitals. Of the seven applications, five are new applications and the other two are for renewal.

     The HA spokesperson said public hospitals have been facing doctor manpower shortage and workload issues in various clinical units. The recruitment of non-locally trained doctors has been supported by the respective Co-ordinating Committees and endorsed by the HA Task Force on Limited Registration Scheme.

     The five new applications for limited registration submitted to the MCHK today cover the specialties of Family Medicine, Neurosurgery, Paediatrics and Radiology. Regarding the renewal applications for two non-locally trained doctors (one in Emergency Medicine and one in Family Medicine), their current limited registration will expire in the third quarter of 2019.

     The overseas recruitment of non-locally trained doctors will continue. At the moment, there are 14 non-locally trained doctors who have been assessed to be eligible for the recruitment exercise and considered suitable for appointment after interviews by user departments. All the applicants have fulfilled related qualification requirements recognised by the constituent Colleges of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, and they all have licenses to practise in their respective countries. The HA will submit limited registration applications for non-locally trained doctors in batches according to their intended dates of reporting for duty.

     Currently, there are 12 non-locally trained doctors working in public hospitals under limited registration to relieve manpower shortage and workload pressure of front-line doctors in the specialties of Anaesthesia, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Radiology. 

     Since April this year, the HA has expanded the scope of the limited registration recruitment scheme to all specialties at the rank of Service Resident, and to recruit non-locally trained specialists at the rank of Associate Consultant in eight specialties (Anaesthesia, Anatomical Pathology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Otorhinolaryngology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Radiology and Nuclear Medicine) which face significant shortage of specialists.